Heartless
by rexlover180
Summary: "A fairtytale will continue until it's had its happy ending," Alfred and Arthur didn't complete their fairytale properly, and so everyone involved is cursed to continue trying until its done right. Who knows how long it will take, especially when one of them doesn't have a heart.
1. Prologue 1

**A fairytale will continue until it's had its happily ever after.**

Once upon a time. That's how these things usually start, isn't it? Fairytales. Those magical things that always end with happiness and a kiss. The prince will always save the damsel in distress, the evil queen will always die, everyone who helped them gets a happy ending. Any danger is easily removed, anything that could stop them is easily taken out. You know there is no danger because good will always win. True love will always prevail.

This one is different. Most fairytales can get it right on the first try, and if not the second one. Some may have a few kinks put in here and there that will stop them from getting what they want and so they may have to try once more. This particular one has a kink that can be rather hard to overcome if not handled right the first time.

It begins with two children, Alfred and Arthur. Not the usual fairytale, no princess to save, no prince to do the saving. They start as paupers, as friends. They know not what dangers will come to them, they don't even know anything beyond the fact that they're friends. But eventually, a deal is struck, and their hearts are the ones to pay.

* * *

"Come on, Arthur! Don't be such a scaredy cat!" Alfred teased, running happily through the forest, climbing over rocks and roots. He was a brave young boy, bright blue eyes that could light up any room, wheat-colored hair that shone even in the moonlight, and a dazzling smile that could put any star to shame.

"If you would slow down!" Arthur puffed, trying in vain to catch up to the hyperactive child in front of him. He was a bit different, with a magic of his own. His dark green eyes easily matched the darkened forest around them and his bright stock of blonde hair made him easy to find in the darkness. "I can hardly catch up with you!"

"Then maybe you should move faster," Alfred laughed, looking back as he stopped next to a tree to catch his breath that he had just noticed he lost.

"Why are we even out here?" Arthur asked once he had caught up to Alfred and sat against the trunk of the tree. "I thought your mother told us not to go into the forest at night." Arthur looked around the forest anxiously, half expecting some monster to come out at any second.

"Nothing bad's gonna happen," Alfred scoffed. "It's the same as it is during the day."

"I don't think so," Arthur rubbed his arms to try to get them warm. It was a little cold tonight… "It's a lot colder."

"Yeah, well, you can deal with that," Alfred laughed. "Come on! I wanna go climb a tree or something!"

"How can you climb when you can't even see anything?" Arthur sighed, looking up at the moon. It was full, which did put him on edge slightly, but it was an odd color. "Alfred."

"It's actually really easy to climb a tree," Alfred said triumphantly, easily ignoring Arthur. "I mean, getting up to the branches in the first place is kind of hard, but after that it only gets easier!"

"Alfred."

"You just feel around for the branch and then you can keep climbing!"

"Alfred!"

"And then once you get to the top, getting back down is as easy as jumping!" Alfred whirled around to face the tree, tracing his fingers along the trunk. "It's really fun. I don't know why you don't try it."

"Alfred."

"What?" Alfred whined, looking back to Arthur, barely able to see him in the lighting.

"The moon is purple," Arthur stayed where he was, staring at the full, purple moon in front of them. Alfred shakily looked up at it. They knew what a purple moon meant, everyone did. It was practically a sign of death to anyone who was caught under it. It was a sign the wizard was coming.

"But the last one was just a few days ago…" Alfred muttered under his breath.

"Apparently it doesn't matter," Arthur could feel his hands shaking, and this time not from the cold.

"We gotta go!" Alfred yelled suddenly and grabbed onto Arthur's wrist. He started running as fast as he could through the woods and Arthur followed silently, he wasn't about to alert where they were to the wizard. Alfred just plowed ahead, he wasn't going to lose a friend, especially this one.

They didn't even make it halfway back to their small village before Arthur was swiped out of Alfred's grip.

"Alfred!" Arthur screeched when he was pulled back so roughly, Alfred's tight grip of his wrist simply slipped over his hand. He felt himself get lifted up by his cloak, what should have been keeping him warm.

"Be calm," an older, male voice said calmly, but Arthur just struggled against him, trying to figure out a way to get himself down.

"Arthur! No!" Alfred yelled once he had managed to recover from his sudden stop. He looked back, ready to face this wizard if it meant getting his friend back. But what he saw made him stand stock still. There was a man in all black kneeling down, holding Arthur by his cloak about a foot off the ground. The man had white hair that nearly sparkled in the odd moonlight and deep pools of purple eyes. This was definitely the wizard.

"You two know better than to travel in the woods at night, da?" the wizard sighed and Alfred gulped, seeing the way he was eyeing Arthur.

"L-Let him go," Alfred tried to demand, but his voice came out small. He tried to hold back tears that were already forming in his eyes. He promised his mom he would be a hero… He had to save Arthur…his only friend.

"Nyet," the wizard calmly shook his head, a creepy smile forming on his face.

"What do you want?" Arthur hissed, trying to see if he could untie his cloak, but Alfred had tied it too tight for him.

"You," the wizard said calmly and Arthur stopped, looking at him with fear filling a pit in his stomach.

"Why me?" Arthur asked, his voice barely over a whisper. The wizard wanted him? The story the parents told the kids back in the village was that he would only pick up bad children in the night, ones that didn't behave. Alfred was the one that made him come outside…

"You have magic," the wizard stated simply and stood up to his full height. Arthur felt for something to cling to with this new found height and only found the wizard's hand. Alfred simply trembled at the giant before him, watching as Arthur was forced to grab onto his hand for help. "A lot of it. And I want it. Simple, da?"

"I don't have magic," Arthur shook his head rapidly. He just wanted the wizard to go away, he didn't want to die…

"Ah, there are many reasons proving you do," the wizard sighed. "But you are too young to understand any of them. So I will just take you now."

The wizard swiftly turned around and Arthur started mumbling to himself meaningless words as he tried to overcome his terror. Alfred stood there, awestruck, as the wizard started to walk away. He couldn't just let his friend be taken! He was a hero!

"Wait!" Alfred cried out, but the wizard didn't stop. What could Alfred offer to him that would make him let Arthur go? He had heard that the wizard was a man of deals, that was how the adults kept the bad children around. He would have to make a deal…but with what?

Alfred charged at the wizard and immediately wrapped himself around his leg, finally making him stop. "Wait…" Alfred murmured. He would have to make a deal…

"Alfred, no…" Arthur muttered.

"Don't take him," Alfred stated, braving a look up at the wizard. He was hoping that he looked a lot more heroic and sure of himself than he was feeling.

"There is nothing which I want to bargain him for," the wizard stated sharply, making Alfred wince. He had to think quickly. What could he give him that the wizard probably didn't have?

Alfred felt his trembling increase dramatically as he got an idea. He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fists.

"Take me," he said, his voice far louder than he thought it would be.

Arthur stared down at his friend in horror. He couldn't bargain his own life for him! But the wizard knelt down to face Alfred, who looked at him with a surprisingly brave face. Arthur could see him hiding back sniffles and tears and trembles.

"You are young," the wizard stated, looking at Alfred dead center, which made Alfred nearly keel over right there. "And yet you are willing to give your life for him?"

"Yes," Alfred nodded. "He is my friend."

The wizard chuckled and smirked, as if at a new realization. "You will be more than that," the wizard muttered. "It seems you have magic in you, too."

"Alfred, don't!" Arthur cried. He couldn't let his only friend get taken in his place.

"You give your soul in place of his?" the wizard asked, holding out one massive hand in front of Alfred, who gulped. "Deal?"

Alfred and Arthur locked eyes for a moment. Arthur's were screaming at him not to do it, that he could deal with whatever came. But Alfred's were fiery. He made his decision. He would be a hero, even if that meant he would have to sacrifice himself.

"Deal," Alfred stuck out his hand quickly before he could stop himself. The wizard's hand engulfed Alfred's and he felt something strange in his gut. Was this magic?

Arthur was immediately dropped onto the ground, but he was too scared to be able to even stand, so he looked up at Alfred, who was already looking at him. Arthur started crying. It was all he could do. He couldn't stop them now and he couldn't do anything else. He was so useless!

"No goodbyes," the wizard stated harshly and Alfred looked at him.

"Why not?" Alfred asked.

"Because I said, da?" the wizard smiled and started walking, Alfred's hand still in his. Arthur looked up at them and watched as they left, a strange feeling in his heart making it impossible to move. Alfred looked back at him for as long as he could, until Arthur was out of sight.

Arthur didn't care that it was cold, that he was in some mixture of dirt, leaves, and mud. He simply laid there on his side and cried. His best friend had gone in his place with the wizard. He had magic in him, didn't he? Why couldn't he have saved Alfred? This was all his fault…

"What the-" a new voice accompanied by footsteps that stopped as soon as Arthur heard them. "Bloody hell!" the footsteps moved faster and stopped right next to Arthur's head. But he didn't care, he just kept on crying. That was all he could do… "Kid, what are ya… It's the bloody purple moon! What are ya doin' out here?!"

Arthur just shook his head. He couldn't stop crying or sniffling. He couldn't even look up at this new man.

"Do ye have a home?" the voice was closer, like the man had knelt down.

Arthur cringed into himself; he didn't want to answer that. He couldn't go home now. It was his fault Alfred was gone and he wouldn't be able to stand it there without him…

"Ye don't," the voice sighed. "That's not good. I gotta get ye inside, kid. I can't help the legend."

Legend? What legend? Arthur had never heard of the legend… He finally opened his eyes and looked at the man, who was close by him, just about a foot from his face. From what Arthur could tell in the light, he had bright, fiery red hair that looked like it could set flame to anything and shining green eyes that could make him either look happy or angry.

"There are ye eyes," the man smiled at him. "If ye don't have a home to go back te…" he looked up at the moon, a constant reminder for Arthur of what had just happened. "Ye're comin' with me, then."

Arthur blinked at the man, what did he mean? The man easily scooped him up, holding him close to his chest. It was warm there… The man started walking and Arthur tried to look around where. But he was getting so tired…it was so warm and he felt exhausted.

"Don' worry," the man smiled down at him softly as they walked up to a carriage. Arthur yawned and eventually his eyes closed. "My name's Scott," the man smiled down at him. He couldn't believe he was doing this, he had no idea what his brothers would think of him bringing a peasant kid home with him. But he had no other place to go, and at a night like this…

Legend said the evil wizard would someday, on a purple moon, come to find his predecessor, a kid filled with magic. No kid was safe, it was impossible to tell which kid had magic and which didn't. Whatever this kid was doing out here in the forest at night, he wasn't going to just let him sit there and cry.

It must have been destiny, that night. For a lonely kid to be picked up in the middle of the night by a prince just passing by. For him to be brought to the castle and made an adopted brother and therefore a royal. He was just a peasant, moments before in a memory he had forgotten because it was too hard to remember.

Alfred, however, was not so lucky. The wizard brought him to his castle. Alfred had no idea what would happen to him, so he started shaking. He kept on thinking about Arthur, how he could be doing in the middle of the forest, alone. He was never the strongest or most capable, a wolf could have gotten to him or something…

"Come," the wizard stated as Alfred began to slow down. Alfred swiftly nodded and picked up his pace, which was quickly becoming tiring. They went to some stairs that led down, lower, probably underground. There were some torches here and there to be served as lighting, but it didn't do much. Alfred kept on tripping, most of the time on his own feet, but it made it harder and harder to keep up with the wizard.

Eventually, the stopped in front of a large, wooden door. The wizard pulled out a rather large key and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and it creaked slowly. There were more torches in this room and Alfred was led into the middle of it. The wizard turned to the wall, which only seemed to be lined with bricks. But the wizard ran his hand over top of one and it simply slid out, onto his hand. Alfred tried to stop himself from shaking as the wizard turned around toward him the brick in one hand. It almost looked hollow.

"What is that?" Alfred couldn't help but ask.

The wizard softly thumped Alfred on the back of his head and Alfred looked down at the ground.

"No questions," the wizard scolded him.

"Yes, sir," Alfred muttered. He made a deal, he would have to do what he was told.

"Not to worry," the wizard stated and Alfred looked up at him. "I have a simple way to make you obey without trouble."

Alfred opened his mouth to ask a question, but stopped himself, nodding.

"Good, you are learning," the wizard smiled. "Now hold still." Alfred did as he was told and couldn't help but tremble a lot when he saw the wizard reach his hand forward, towards his chest. He saw the wizard's finger tips disappear inside his chest and closed his eyes tightly. What was this? He got the feeling in the pit of his stomach again; it was definitely magic.

He felt something being pulled out of his chest and immediately opened his eyes. He saw the wizard's hand slowly pulling out of his chest with something red in it. It felt like he was being drained and once the wizard's hand was fully out, his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. He knew he should feel shocked, frightened, angry…But he didn't feel anything. Not even the feeling he just got of that being pulled out.

"Very good," the wizard smiled and Alfred looked back up at him. "See this? It is your heart." Alfred nodded. He was so confused…but he wasn't. He should have been feeling something. Something…for the kid he left behind in the forest… What was his name again? "You will no longer feel anything and you will obey me."

Alfred nodded without even thinking about it… What as there to think about? Something about a forest…

"If not," the wizard took the red object in his hand and squeezed it slightly. Immediately, Alfred's whole body was overwhelmed with pain and he cried out, tumbling to the ground, clutching at his chest. What was supposed to be there? "Understand?"

"Yes, sir," Alfred muttered and his body relaxed when the pain in his chest went away. He looked up at the wizard as he turned around and put the brick back in place.

"Stand," the wizard stated and Alfred quickly obeyed. "From what I can tell, your name is Alfred, da?"

Alfred nodded. For some reason that didn't matter to him at all, that was the only thing he knew.

"Then welcome, Fredka," the wizard smiled. "You will be spending your life here."

"Yes, sir," Alfred stated and followed the wizard as he left the room.

* * *

**I got the idea for this earlier this week, when I was watching Once Upon A Time, you could probably tell that. But this idea just wouldn't get out of my head and it won't until I write it all down. Writing this story right now brings me to a grand total of 4 stories at once... Dear God...**

**Anyway! This Prologue has three parts. The whole prologue is basically an entire fairytale, while the rest of it is something else. Anyway, I'll be updating this once a week because, as I said, I'm writing 4 stories at once.**

**Anywho, please review and I don't own Hetalia.**


	2. Prologue 2

It was years later when the story started to pick up again. Our main characters were at the age of teenagers, deeply invested in their new lives. Arthur that of a prince; Alfred that of a slave. Neither of them remember the other, or even want to. Little do they know, fate will push them together yet again.

* * *

"Oi! Art!"

"For the last bloody time, my name is Arthur," came the annoyed reply.

"Don't back sass me!" Scott stuck his head out of the doorway to glare at his adopted brother, who was leaning against the wall just outside his door, glaring at him. "I-"

"Saved my life, I know," Arthur rolled his eyes. "You know, I half wish you just left me there to rot."

"Don't wish something like that!" Ian gasped, sticking his own head out of his own doorway.

"It's not like I was in any danger," Arthur rolled his eyes. "You lot keep saying there's nothing special about me. There was no magic in me for the bloody wizard to want."

Ian and Scott shared a glance before Ian disappeared back into his room.

"What the bloody hell did you want, anyway?" Arthur sighed. "I was already coming by to fetch you for lunch."

"Ah, we got this annoyin' letter about keepin' some noble happy," Scott smirked, holding out a piece of paper.

"And you want me to deal with it?" Arthur sighed, snatching the letter.

"What else are ye good for?" Scott laughed.

"Whatever," Arthur rolled his eyes, reading through the letter. "Lord Ivan?" Arthur glanced up at his brother.

"Aye," Scott nodded, smirking. "I don't want te deal with 'im, so you do."

"Why the bloody hell do I have to deal with him?!" Arthur snapped at him.

"He's just creepy," Scott rolled his eyes. "Nothin' te worry about too much."

"Obviously you haven't heard the rumors," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Jesus!" Ian yelled, stumbling out of his room with soot covering his clothes.

"What happened to you?" Arthur asked.

"Wee fire," Ian chuckled slightly.

"What rumors were ye talking about?" Scott asked Arthur, his serious demeanor putting Arthur on edge.

"What rock do you live under?" Arthur scoffed, turning around swiftly. "If you don't hurry, lunch will get cold."

Scott and Ian glanced at each other as Arthur walked down the hallway.

"He caused the fire, didn't he?" Scott asked, glancing at Ian. He kept his voice quiet, just in case Arthur could hear them.

"You really shouldn't piss him off that much," Ian sighed. "This is the fifth fire this month. We can't keep hiding this from him."

"We have to," Scott muttered. "The wizard hasn't found his apprentice yet. If it possibly could be 'im, we need to keep 'im safe. His magic keeps growing stronger, we can't let the wizard find 'im."

"Stop making him angry," Ian sighed and started down the hallway. Leaving Arthur alone when he was awake was always a bad idea. Something would light on fire or maybe even something would float. Those were the hardest to hide from him…

"What rumor?" Scott asked himself, walking towards the dining hall.

The castle they lived in was grand, beautiful, a perfect fairytale castle. As far as Arthur could remember, he was raised here. However, he didn't know the story Scott would tell, of finding him alone in the woods during the purple moon. He didn't remember that at all… And apparently he was crying? Not possible, not him.

Arthur read through the letter over and over again throughout their lunch, which Scott and Ian stayed surprisingly quiet during. He couldn't believe he was going to be forced to see Lord Ivan, of all people. His brothers forced him to do a lot of the hard work they didn't want to do, just because he was the youngest. And yet, despite all of this behavior, they spoiled him! They would hardly let him do much on his own, especially at night. He wasn't permitted to leave his room after sundown, his room didn't even have windows.

"What rumor?" Scott asked suddenly, when Arthur was almost done eating.

"What does it matter?" Arthur chuckled, shaking his head.

"Hi," Connor, the last brother, walked in, yawning, before he plopped down on an open chair. Immediately, the servants rushed to give him his food.

"Look who's finally awake," Ian laughed.

"What rumor?" Scott demanded, his voice near a shout.

"Bloody hell," Arthur sighed. "It's the rumor that Lord Ivan is the evil wizard. How have you not heard that one?"

"What?" Connor sat upright, seemingly awake now.

"I'll go," Ian said quickly.

"What do you care?" Arthur scoffed. "All of a sudden, you don't want me to do all the hard work for you?"

"You aren't going," Scott stated.

"And why not?" Arthur sighed, shaking his head. "Just a few minutes ago, you wanted me to go. Why the change in thought?"

"I am your elder, you listen to me," Scott narrowed his eyes at him. "You are not to go."

"Make me," Arthur narrowed his eyes at him.

"Damn…" Ian muttered, standing up. It seemed his goblet tipped and his pants were soaked in water. "Spilled."

"I'm not an idiot," Arthur rolled his eyes and sat up, tossing his napkin onto the table. "I know you're hiding something."

Connor stood up suddenly, holding an apple high above his head. "Just checking to see if this is a good apple…"

"I'm going," Arthur stated, leaving the room.

"Well, he's going to suspect something now!" Connor groaned, slouching in his seat.

"Next he'll be moving people," Ian muttered.

"How could I not think of Ivan?" Scott sighed, standing up from the table himself. "Dammit! It seems so obvious!"

"What do we do now?" Ian asked. "We can't let him go and if one of us goes, I'm sure we'll try to take him on to keep Arthur safe."

"We aren't sure if the wizard's Ivan," Connor stated. "It could not be."

"Lord Ivan's heartless servant?" Scott stated. "A part of the legend of the wizard is that he struck a bargain with some kids a few years back. One of them sacrificed his own soul to save the other. I don't think it's some coincidence that Arthur doesn't remember a thing before I found him or why he was cryin' so hard."

"Then he really could be the apprentice," Connor muttered.

"Which means we need to make sure he doesn't go," Ian stated.

"We'll tell him," Scott stated. "Tell him who he really is. If he's gonna be as powerful as the wizard, then he could fight against him."

"Princes!" a servant came rushing into the room. "Sir Arthur has left."

* * *

Arthur huffed, the breath of air making the lock of hair in front of his eyes move out of the way. In front of him laid the castle of Lord Ivan. It was just as creepy as the owner. Arthur had only met Lord Ivan once, at a dinner. It was one of his first as a prince and so his brothers were watching over him like hawks, over protecting him as always.

"Arthur?" at the mention of his name, Arthur turned to look at the familiar voice to his right. Surprisingly, another carriage had made its arrival. "I did not expect your frères to allow you to come." Arthur rolled his eyes. Prince Francis stood proudly in front of his own carriage, his long, soft blonde locks floating in the wind and his sky blue eyes dancing with a smile.

"They didn't," Arthur stated. Francis blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I received a letter, too," Francis smirked. "This is all simply for the sake of relations."

"I do hope not in the kind you're thinking," Arthur sighed, straightening out his clothes.

"I have heard some rumors about his manservant," Francis laughed and Arthur rolled his eyes. "He is quite the eye-catcher."

"Let's just get this over with," Arthur sighed and started walking forward.

"Why did you come here against your brothers' wishes?" Francis asked, following him close behind.

"They are too over protective," Arthur sighed and walked up to the door. "I'm trying to prove to them that I am not a child."

"They are not protective over you because they think-" Francis was cut off by the door being opened, revealing a young man in a simple suit. He had his head bowed to them, but Arthur had a feeling that there was something familiar about him.

"My master welcomes you," the man stood up, revealing dull blue eyes that seemed to have the potential for more and dull wheat hair. This man was definitely familiar…but how? Arthur tried to focus on him, but he turned around and started walking.

"Merci," Francis muttered and walked ahead of Arthur. Arthur blinked a few times before coming back to reality and quickly following them inside. The doors closed loudly behind them and suddenly Arthur felt a little uneasy.

"This is your first time out without one of your brothers with you, non?" Francis asked Arthur quietly.

"Yes," Arthur sighed, looking at the ground. "It can't be that big of a deal. I am practically a full grown man now, after all."

"There is a reason they care so much for you," Francis said seriously.

"You've heard the rumors, correct?" Arthur asked.

"Oui," Francis nodded solemnly. "You shouldn't have come."

"Why not?" Arthur asked.

"Privet!" a surprisingly jolly voice chimed, forcing the attention of the two princes to the front of the room. The servant made a motion with his hand, making them stop, and then walked ahead, to stand next to Lord Ivan. He had a bright smile on his face, though it had an air that put Arthur on edge. He seemed slightly familiar; the silver-like quality of his hair, the deep purple of his eyes… "Welcome!"

Lord Ivan stood up and walked up to them, the servant following him not a foot behind. He held out a hand to Francis, who simply took it, shaking it happily.

"Prince Francis?" Ivan asked.

"Oui," Francis nodded and Ivan turned his attention to Arthur.

"And which Kirkland do I have the pleasure to meet?" Ivan asked happily.

"Arthur Kirkland," Arthur replied easily and took Ivan's outstretched hand. Right after touching him, Arthur felt a massive wave of nausea and weakness overwhelm him. He felt his knees begin to buckle, but Ivan released his hand, making him feel normal once again.

"Pleasure to meet you," Ivan smiled, giving Arthur a strange look that made a very strange pit appear in his stomach. "Fredka will show you your rooms."

"Yes, sir," Fredka nodded once and started walking to one of the doors to the right.

Francis motioned for Arthur to go first and Arthur shakily nodded. He almost looked back at Ivan, but quickly thought better of it and stared ahead at the other mystery man; Fredka. He seemed so familiar…but not, at the same time.

"Prince Francis," Fredka came to a door and swiftly opened it.

"Merci, Fredka," Francis stated and gave Arthur one of his "looks" before disappearing inside the door. He gave that look all the time to Arthur whenever he thought that it would be a good time for Arthur to try to…find a princess, shall we say. Francis was the only person that knew Arthur's deepest secret; the fact that he didn't like women, but rather men.

Arthur sent him a glare before continuing to follow Fredka down the hallway. It was awkward and quiet, of course, but Arthur didn't quite mind it. He kept staring at him, despite his better judgment not to. There was just something about this man, he felt like he should remember something like him… Perhaps…he was from when Scott found him in the forest.

"Leave," Fredka's voice brought Arthur back to reality.

"E-Excuse me?" Arthur asked. Fredka stopped in front of a door, looking down at the ground.

"Get out of here," Fredka stated, looking back up at him. His face held no emotion, nor did his voice. But Arthur still felt a need to follow his advice and run away.

"I cannot do that," Arthur shook his head. "I have a duty-"

"Fine," Fredka said, opening the door, and then departing down the hallway.

"Who are you…?" Arthur muttered to himself before walking into the room and closing the door.

Maybe he should have let his brothers come instead…

* * *

**Prologue 2! So they meet again... And Francis gets introduced! And if any of you are curious, Scott, Ian, and Connor are Scottland, Wales, and Ireland. I love thinking of them as good brothers rather than the horrible douche bags some people make them. In this story, they just made sure he didn't feel special, that there was nothing too major about him because they want to hide him from the wizard. Because they're cool like that.**

**Anywho, please review! It's totally freaking awesome if you do, dudes!**


	3. Prologue 3

It wasn't too long into the night before Arthur heard a knock at his door. He wasn't sleeping, anyway, so he figured he would answer it. After all, if someone wanted him this late, it had to be important.

Arthur stood up quickly from his bed, from which he was looking out a window, and opened the door a crack to see if he could figure out who it was.

"Francis?" Arthur asked, opening the door wide enough for the man to enter and then closed it. "What do you want?"

"I figured I should tell you," Francis sighed, leaning against the closed door.

"Tell me what?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"The reason your frères protect you so much," Francis stated.

"I've been told this story hundreds of times by my smug brother," Arthur rolled his eyes. "He found me in the forest-"

"That is not the entire story," Francis interrupted him. "That night, deux boys went missing from a village. One named Arthur, the other Alfred. They went into the woods alone on a purple moon."

"Alfred…?" Arthur muttered to himself. Why was that name so familiar?

"Legend says one night," Francis continued, "the wizard found his apprentice. A petit boy in the woods with his friend. The friend gave up his life to make sure the boy was safe. If the rumors of Ivan are true…"

"You can't think that I would be the wizard's apprentice," Arthur stated. "I don't even have magic."

"Oh, you do," Francis nodded. "I have seen it. Your frères have worked very hard to hide it from you."

"I don't have magic," Arthur shook his head.

"There is a reason they did not want you to come," Francis stated. "Any chance of you being taken is too much."

"You think this Arthur and Alfred that went missing could be me and…someone else?" Arthur asked.

"If the legend is true, Alfred gave his life for Arthur," Francis nodded. "It means the wizard would have some kind of loyal servant."

"And if Ivan is the wizard, then Fredka would be Alfred," Arthur muttered. Fredka did seem very familiar and he could have sworn he had seen Ivan somewhere other than just that one other occasion. "I don't have magic," Arthur shook his head, turning around.

"Why don't you remember anything that happened the night you were found or before that?" Francis asked. "You were as young as 9 or 10. Something happened you didn't want to remember."

"Like my only friend sacrificing himself for me?!" Arthur nearly shouted and turned to glare at Francis.

"I never said anything about only friend," Francis stated. Arthur opened his mouth to retort, but he suddenly smelled burning. He looked over to his bed, where the smell came from, and found a small fire beginning to grow right in the center of it. Francis immediately set to work putting it out as Arthur stared at it in shock. There was nothing in this room, not even a torch, that could have set that fire…

"Fredka is Alfred," Arthur murmured. He didn't remember much, but he did remember a boy. Shimmering blue eyes, shiny wheat hair, and an obnoxious smile. Fredka looked so much like him…but there was something off. He was so dull, almost like his personality was being shoved back, or possibly just ripped out.

"Quoi?" Francis asked, turning back to Arthur now that the fire was out.

"He told me go leave, get out of here," Arthur muttered. "That is Alfred, but something is wrong."

"So you are the boy in the forest?" Francis asked.

"If I know Alfred, then I must be," Arthur stated. "I remember him as a fun-loving, happy, excited child. Fredka is far from that. Something must have happened to him."

"If he is at the hands of the wizard, anything could have happened," Francis said and Arthur nodded. He heard what the wizard was capable of; setting entire villages on fire with a single thought, turning loved ones into insects and crushing them right in front of you, starting and ending wars just by walking into the area…

Pulling out a heart.

"His heart," Arthur's eyes widened at his sudden realization. "The reason he's so cold and emotionless…Ivan ripped out his heart."

"Then there is nothing we can do to help him," Francis sighed. "Je suis désolé."

"No," Arthur shook his head. "If he risked his life for mine, all I can do is the same."

"You cannot expect to accomplish anything against Ivan," Francis stated. "If he really is the wizard, you will not stand a chance."

"That didn't stop Alfred," Arthur stated. "He was only 10 and he was willing to give up his entire future, his own heart, for a boy he had known for a week."

"You cannot win this, mon ami," Francis shook his head sadly.

"Then I lose either way," Arthur shook his head.

"You can get more powerful and defeat the wizard," Francis stated.

"How, exactly, can I do that when the only teacher I could have is the wizard himself?" Arthur asked. "Magic is rare, we all know this. The only place it can be found is in the wizard, his apprentice and-"

"Le véritable amour," Francis smirked. Arthur rolled his eyes, the bastard was lucky he knew at least a little French.

"You can't be saying my true love is-"

"You only knew him for a week," Francis raised an eyebrow. "And he gave up his life for you. Imagine what would happen if you knew each other longer."

"Then if your theory is correct, I have to save him," Arthur stated.

"Ah, amour," Francis smirked. "It makes one do strange things."

"Are you going to help me or not?" Arthur sighed.

"It will not be wise to go against Ivan," Francis stated. Arthur scoffed and rolled his eyes before lurching his door open and walking down the hall. The torches were still lit, allowing him to at least vaguely know where he was going. "Arthur!" Francis hissed, running down the hall to match pace with Arthur.

"You can't change my mind," Arthur scoffed. "All you've done is make up my mind for me."

"You do not even know where you are going," Francis whispered.

"Down?" Arthur glanced back at him. "If you kept human hearts and tried to keep them secret and safe, you would put them somewhere no one goes. Does the basement of a creepy castle inhabited by a creepy man sound right?"

"You cannot just charge in blindly," Francis stated. "We do not even know how to get anywhere."

"I have no interest in maintaining relations with a man like him, so I can look for as long as my stay here," Arthur stated.

"What are you doing?" A voice at full volume made them stop and Arthur looked ahead. Fredka was standing in front of them, next to a torch.

"Alfred…" Arthur muttered

"You should be sleeping," Alfred said monotonously.

"As should you," Francis stated.

"My master asks of me to watch the guests during the night, so I do," Alfred said.

"You told me to leave," Arthur walked up to him. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," Alfred shook his head.

"Alfred, this is important," Arthur stared into those cloudy eyes. "Do you know where your heart is?"

"Don't go after it," Alfred said.

"Why not?" Arthur asked.

"Don't," Alfred stated clearly.

"Having a nice midnight talk?" another new voice asked happily.

"Ah, Lord Ivan," Francis spoke loudly and Arthur turned around quickly, finding Ivan standing still, just a few feet from them. He looked just like something out of his nightmares.

"What are you doing out so late at night?" Ivan asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

"I got lost," Arthur said quickly. "F-Fredka was helping me find a way back."

"Is this true, Fredka?" Ivan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, sir," Alfred stated and Arthur winced.

"What was Prince Arthur doing, then?" Ivan asked, walking right past Francis and stopping right in front of Arthur, making the smaller look up to meet his gaze.

"He was asking about my heart, sir," Alfred said. His words hung in the air as Ivan stared down at Arthur.

"That means you are exactly who I think you are," Ivan smiled.

"Arthur," Francis murmured. "I think it would be wise for you to move."

"If I am, then I propose a deal," Arthur stated, hiding his shaking hands behind his back.

"No," Alfred said behind him and Arthur fought not to look back.

"What is this deal?" Ivan asked.

"Give him his heart back," Arthur said, his voice far more demanding than he thought it would be.

"In exchange for?" Ivan asked.

"I will become your apprentice."

"Come," Ivan started walking, around Arthur, who nodded and swiftly turned around to follow.

"Arthur-" Francis tried to speak out, get them to stop, but Ivan was quicker.

"Prince Francis can stay here," Ivan stated and Arthur didn't see how Francis' feet became rooted to the ground and he couldn't move.

Alfred followed the two as Ivan took the lead and began going down some stairs. Arthur could do nothing but follow, the lighting of the torches coming few and far between as time passed.

"It is rather amusing," Ivan mused after a long quiet. "Fredka gave up his heart so you would be safe. And now you are giving up your safety to give Fredka his heart."

"Why do you call him Fredka?" Arthur asked. "His name is Alfred."

"He is no longer Alfred, if you have not noticed," Ivan glanced back at him as they reached a thick, wooden door.

"I have," Arthur nodded.

Ivan smiled and opened the door. It was a small room and it didn't look to have anything in it. Ivan continued to the wall of bricks on the opposite end of the room as Arthur stopped. Alfred stopped next to him, staring ahead without an emotion on his face.

"His heart is right here," Ivan said happily, pulling out a brick from the wall. He turned around, revealing that the brick was hollow. The object inside nearly made Arthur throw up at the sight. A human heart, still beating, with some blood spattered on the inside of its little box. "Pretty, da?"

"You are twisted," Arthur muttered, refraining from making his hand cover his nose and mouth. It smelled foul, almost like death.

"We have our deal," Ivan smiled, holding out his hand for Arthur, the other holding the brick.

"Yes," Arthur nodded and took the hand, a very bad feeling pitting in his stomach. "Now give him back his heart."

"Da, da," Ivan sighed and turned to Alfred, who still stared ahead with a vacant expression. Ivan easily picked up the heart and this time Arthur did cover his mouth with his hand. It was disgusting, horrible…And this would be his new mentor…

Without even a pause, Ivan forced the heart into Alfred's chest. Alfred closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. It felt like he was waking up from some dream, like he was just waking up after a deep, deep sleep. It took him a few breaths and a while of blinking before he really saw where he was. Back in the room where his heart was taken out.

His hands gripped at his chest and he nearly fell onto his knees. His heart was back. After all those years of being imprisoned by nothing. He almost regretted making that deal with the wizard…But then he remembered who he made it for.

"Arthur?" Alfred asked, looking over at Ivan and Arthur. He knew he had grown up, he had seen Arthur with his own eyes when he came in, but it was still a shock for him to see him like this. Arthur was looking at the ground, Ivan smiling happily next to him. A very large amount of hatred was swelling in him for that man, the things he had to do for him…

"We made a new deal," Ivan chimed and Arthur visibly winced.

"Yeah?" Alfred clenched his fists. "Well you broke mine."

Arthur immediately looked up when he heard a very loud smack. His eyes widened and he stumbled back slightly as Alfred tried to hit Ivan again, but it seemed like Ivan had some sort of shield of magic in front of him. As Alfred tried once again to hit Ivan, the latter simply flicked his hand in Alfred's direction, causing a large burst of fire to hit Alfred straight on and make him stumble backwards. Ivan smiled and moved his hand back again.

"No! Stop!" Arthur yelled and a sudden burst of air caused Ivan to slam into the wall behind him. He fell to the ground, appearing to have been knocked out.

"Arthur, what the hell are you doing here?" Alfred rushed over to his old childhood friend.

"We've both only known each other for just a week," Arthur couldn't help but laugh. "And we've already risked our lives for each other."

"Artie," Alfred let out a small laugh and wrapped Arthur in a hug. Arthur could hear footsteps rushing down the stairs just outside the room, the door was still open.

"Alfred," Arthur pulled back slightly, just far enough so that their faces were close. "I have a theory, but I need you to promise not to freak out about it."

"I do, too," Alfred grinned. Arthur could see him leaning forward slightly, bringing their faces closer. Arthur couldn't help but smile, he had the same idea as him. And so he leaned forward as well. When they were just about to kiss, they both closed their eyes.

Something, though, made Alfred stop and open his eyes wide. It felt like something was piercing his back and he let out a surprised gasp. Once Arthur heard it, his eyes snapped open as well. Alfred felt an overwhelming, familiar feeling of something getting pulled out of his body, except this time it was coming out of his back.

Alfred's knees betrayed him and he tumbled onto the ground. Arthur tried to catch him, but that just wound up with him falling as well.

"Alfred?" Arthur asked, watching as the shock on Alfred's face swiftly morphed into no expression. Arthur looked up, trying to see what could have caused what just happened. He found Ivan, kneeling down slightly, holding a beating, red heart. "You…"

"I win," Ivan smiled and proceeded to slowly crush the heart in his hand.

Alfred was immediately overwhelmed with pain and he let out a scream as the pain slowly started to increase. Before Arthur could even figure out what to do, the heart disappeared into red dust that disappeared in a wind that Arthur didn't feel.

Alfred fell limp.

"Alfred!" Arthur yelled, trying to shake Alfred awake, but he just laid there. The footsteps finally made it into the room.

"Arthur! Thank God!" Scott's voice sighed.

"Alfred!" Arthur didn't look up. He tried again to shake Alfred, but it didn't work. Tears started to pool in his eyes when he saw the vacant look on Alfred's face. His eyes were completely unfocused and his jaw hung slack. He wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving. "Alfred…"

"Lord Ivan, you are under the custody of the crown of Kirkland," Scott stated.

"Under what circumstances, may I ask?" Ivan asked innocently and Arthur clenched his fists, still staring at the dead man lying on him.

"Kidnapping," Francis stated.

"And murder," Arthur muttered, finally looking up. All three of his brothers were there, along with Francis. Ivan was being put into shackles, though Arthur had a suspicion that wouldn't work.

"That lad…" Connor muttered. "He's…"

"Dead," Arthur finished for him, fighting back the tears he knew he couldn't hold back long.

"Move," Scott said harshly and footsteps slowly left the room and departed up the stairs.

"Arthur, are you okay?" Ian rushed over to Arthur, who just closed his eyes.

"We need to get him off," Francis sighed.

"Right," Connor said and soon, Alfred's weight was lifted off of Arthur.

"Since he's crying, it's probably raining outside, we should get going now, before it gets too bad," Ian stated. "Arthur, can you walk?"

"Of course I can," Arthur said quietly and forced himself to stand. He started walking up the stairs without even looking at his brothers or Francis.

The three he left behind gave each other knowing looks. They had all known Arthur for quite a while. Arthur was never really emotional past anger, irritation, and smugness. This one man, though, had managed to bring him to tears, so much that he didn't even say much to them. His pride was the only thing making him walk.

The three quickly caught up with Arthur, who was simply staring at the ground beneath his feet as he walked. He could feel the anger inside him beginning to grow, there was no denying it. If Francis was correct, that was his true love. And Ivan killed him.

Before long, they made it outside. It was still night, but the sun was slowly beginning to rise, but that didn't hide the color of the moon. Purple.

Scott was standing next to a wooden cage with Ivan inside, which was connected to a horse. Sure enough, it was raining, but without a cloud in the sky. Arthur was sure it was because of him. He had seen his magic now, he knew what it did…

"Art," Scott walked towards them. Arthur winced, half expecting to be scolded or hit. But what he got was a hug, instead. Arthur opened his eyes in surprise and found his brother with the kindest, most caring face he had seen on him since the day they met. "I'm not gonna let ye go again, dammit…"

"Group hug!" Ian yelled happily and Arthur felt someone come up behind him.

"Oh, alright," Connor sighed and the last brother joined the hug.

Arthur wished he could have enjoyed it, but Alfred was still very present in his mind.

* * *

That is the end of this unfinished fairytale. As you can tell, there was no kiss, no happy ending; evil had bested them. The obstacle for these two characters was too much for them to handle the first time around.

However, **a fairytale will continue until it's had its happily ever after.**

* * *

**And this marks the end of the prologue. Not to worry, the actual story itself will have a happily ever after, but life just sucks until that happens, so just bear with it. And trust me, writing Alfred with no emotions is a pain in the ass... Anyway! Look out next week for Chapter One: Apples.**

**Please review, dudes! It's totally awesome!**


	4. Apples

Arthur Kirkland wasn't much. The second he could, he moved away from home and his terrible brothers. Since then, he never had a permanent residence. He said he never settled because he never liked a place much; but what he was hiding was that…he was scared. He had always had some deep rooted fear of settling.

He did have one friend, however, that didn't mind following him everywhere. For some reason, neither Arthur nor Francis Bonnefroy did anything to try to keep themselves rooted. They had been friends for a while, since Arthur tried and failed to see what was so great about France. That was when Arthur was 16, Francis was 18. At first, Arthur had his worries about travelling with a French adult, but he did make getting across borders on your own easier.

They tried all throughout Europe to find some place they could bother calling home, but it never came. By the time Arthur was 18, they had decided to try Asia. That, however, was very short-lived as they quickly decided that was not a smart idea. And so, on Arthur's 19th birthday, they decided to try America.

* * *

That was where they were now. Sitting at an outdoor café in some small city somewhere along the west coast.

"Do you know what you want?" Francis asked. "I will pay."

"I'm fine," Arthur slouched in his seat. He was beginning to wonder about the point in trying to find somewhere to stay…

"I have heard about this place," Francis stretched, thoroughly enjoying the sun for the day. "It is famous for its apples."

"Wonderful," Arthur stated.

"Why are you so sour?" Francis leaned forward, over the small metal table between the two.

"Haven't I always been like this?" Arthur sighed, staring at him.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice chimed next to them and Arthur assumed that was the waitress. "Welcome to our café. What can I do for you?"

"I would like your crêpe," Francis replied happily.

"Yes, sir," the girl stated. "And you, sir?"

"I am fine, thank you," Arthur stated.

"Are you sure?" the girl asked. "We can get you a slice of apple pie or an apple fritter."

"No, thank you," Arthur sighed. The girl nodded and went off. "Apples, right."

"You could give it a try," Francis offered.

"I don't like relying on you for everything," Arthur rolled his eyes. Most of the money he came across was from doing random odd jobs or from jobs he's worked for a couple weeks at a certain place they stayed at for long. Francis, however, had been left with a rather large trust fund, and so he was the one paying for about 90% of everything.

"You can just give me an IOU," Francis laughed.

"I would rather not," Arthur rolled his eyes. "Last time I owed you, I deeply regretted it."

"It was just that one time," Francis said with a wave of his hand.

"One time too many," Arthur sighed and looked across the street. Someone was standing over there that he could have sworn he had met somewhere before. He was rather tall, with slightly dull wheat colored hair and dull eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. Immediately, their eyes locked and Arthur couldn't bring himself to look away. The man staring at him had a harsh stare, but it was familiar. Did he know him from somewhere before?

After a while, someone pushed the other man away, making him walk down the street. Arthur shook his head and turned his attention back to the table, where Francis raised an eyebrow at him.

"What was that?" Francis teased.

"Nothing," Arthur scoffed, dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand.

"Here's your food," the chipper waitress was back and she placed a small plate in front of Francis. And then, surprisingly enough, a plate was placed in front of Arthur. It had what looked like an apple pie on it.

"I didn't order this," Arthur looked up at her.

"It's on the house," she smiled and simply walked away. Arthur looked down at the pie distastefully. He never trusted things that were "on the house." That usually meant they were trying to get rid of something that had gone bad.

"Are you not going to eat it?" Francis asked.

"No," Arthur pushed the plate away.

"Porquoi?" Francis asked.

"Do you remember the last time I ate something that was free?" Arthur asked.

"Ah, oui," Francis laughed, nodding.

"It wasn't bloody funny," Arthur snapped.

"Oh, it was," Francis nodded.

"I'm not eating this," Arthur sighed and stood up. "I am going to go find us a hotel."

"You do not know what you are missing," Francis smirked as Arthur walked away.

He didn't make it very far before someone, a man, came up to him holding an apple.

"Would you like an apple, sir?" he asked. "It's picked fresh."

"No, thank you," Arthur turned him down and continued on his way. That was odd… He didn't even take two steps before another person, a woman, came up to him.

"Would you like an apple fritter?"

"No," Arthur continued walking, without the formalities this time. What was with this town and apples?

"Apple-"

"No!" Arthur glared at the next person who tried to come up to him and he walked quicker. He had no idea where he was going, as long as it was away from these crazy people trying to feed him free apples. Why were they so intent on this in the first place?

In Arthur's rush, he didn't see someone in front of him until he had already ran into him. Almost immediately, Arthur's vision rushed into that of someone else. He saw a short flash of what looked like a forest at night before he came back to where he really was. He stumbled backwards and looked up at the slightly taller man in front of him, realizing it was the man he had stared at just a few minutes earlier. Upon seeing that the man didn't hold any apple product, Arthur returned to his politer state.

"Sorry," Arthur muttered, shaking his head. That odd vision gave him a slight headache.

"No problem," the man said bluntly and continued to walk away.

"Alfred," another man sighed and followed after the first one. He looked rather similar, but there were some very slight differences. The second man turned to Arthur with a small smile. "I apologize for him. He's not…the most polite."

"He has been more polite than the other people in this town," Arthur said with a wave of his hand. "He is the first one to not offer me something made up of apples."

"You, too, huh?" the man laughed. "I should get back to Alfred. Nice meeting you…um…what was your name?"

"Arthur."

"Matthew," the man smiled and ran after his companion. They looked similar enough to be brothers.

"Nice lad," Arthur smiled slightly to himself and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he continued on his way.

In the time it took him to take 10 steps, he was offered 7 other foods made from apples, all of which he refused. The amount of people demanding he eat something free was making him suspicious. They ranged from anything to just an apple to apple cider and then all of those desserts…

It grew even more suspicious as a man slammed Arthur into a wall. Arthur winced at the impact, his breath leaving him for a short while. Arthur half expected himself to get punched by this man. He had been mugged before, he knew how these things worked. But instead, the man was holding an apple in the hand he wasn't using to pin Arthur against the wall.

"Eat the damn apple," the man growled.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to mug me?" Arthur groaned. A large group of other people had formed a semi-circle around them, all of them holding something that involved an apple. "You have got to be kidding me."

"You got rather close this time," a new voice rang out and a few of the people parted ways to make a path, but Arthur couldn't see who it was. The person pinning him down was blocking his sight. Arthur knew he had never heard this voice before, but it had a familiar ring to it. It was obviously Russian; Francis and Arthur had skipped Russia on their trips.

"What?" Arthur asked, still very confused as to what was going on.

"You can let him go now." The man pinning Arthur stepped back, allowing Arthur to see another man with white hair and purple eyes. He wore a scarf tightly around his neck and a long, thick, beige coat, though it was warm out. He looked like one of the monsters in Arthur's nightmares… "Privet, Arthur."

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Arthur demanded. It seemed like this man had some kind of control over all of these people.

"Aw, you do not know me?" the man pouted. "My name is Ivan. My job has been to make sure you and Fredka do not meet."

"Who?" Arthur asked.

"Very good," Ivan smiled. "You will not get any further."

"What are you talking about?" Arthur asked.

"You are still the same," Ivan laughed, moving forward slightly and using his forefinger to stroke Arthur's chin upward. Arthur slapped the hand away and backed up as much as he could, which didn't prove to be much, considering the wall behind him.

"I don't understand," Arthur stated. "I've never met you before. What do you want from me?"

"I want you dead, da?" Ivan smiled. It was a fairly creepy smile, enough to put Arthur on edge. "This is the closest you have gotten in a long time. But it will end now."

"What, are you going to kill me with an apple?" Arthur scoffed.

"Da," Ivan nodded. "You are a part of a fairytale, so only a fairytale end will do."

"How the bloody hell I am I from a fairytale?" Arthur asked.

"What is going on here?" Francis asked from beyond the crowd.

"Francis!" Arthur called out for help, though his pride would never allow him to admit that he really did. He was being threatened by a crazy man to be killed. By an apple, no less.

"Are you actually calling for my help?" Francis teased.

"Francis!" Arthur snapped. "The one time I bloody call for your help!"

"Oh, you are still with Francis?" Ivan tilted his head to the side. "You do keep getting further and further."

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Arthur spat.

"So sad, all of that potential," Ivan sighed. He held his hand up and a bright red apple appeared out of nowhere. "Your magic has grown quite stronger over all this time."

"I cannot get through," Francis shouted and it sounded like he was struggling to get through the crowd.

"Magic?" Arthur asked. "What magic?"

"You have not used it since your first life," Ivan laughed.

"First life?" Arthur muttered.

"You do not get to know about your past," Ivan smiled. "Just eat the apple and all of your problems will go away."

"Like hell," Arthur stated.

"Coming through," the monotone voice of that man from earlier spoke loudly and Arthur saw him quickly plow through the group and run right past him. Matthew followed him quickly behind and grabbed onto Arthur's wrist, pulling him along with them.

"Are you okay?" Matthew asked, panting as he ran with his brother.

"I think so," Arthur said slowly. He realized that they were running into the forest and glanced behind. He could see the large group walking around in some dazed confusion and Francis was running after them. "Where are we going?"

"Alfred, where are we going?" Matthew asked to the man running ahead of them.

"I don't know," Alfred stated as he slowed down. He looked up at the sky as they all slowed down.

"Arthur, are you alright?" Francis panted as he ran up to them.

"Who's this?" Matthew asked.

"He's who I travel with," Arthur sighed. "And why the bloody hell did you not help me when I called for you?"

"I never thought you would actually swallow your pride and ask for my help," Francis smirked. "You didn't even ask for help in Germany when you were mugged."

"Shut up," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Where have you guys been?" Matthew asked.

Arthur opened his mouth to respond, but someone spoke the words for him.

"They have been all over the world." That was Ivan. Immediately, all four of the boys looked over at the man, who was happily leaning against a tree. Arthur was torn between running for it and hiding behind the biggest person there; Alfred. "Did you really think you could run away from me that easily?"

"Who are you?" Francis asked.

"He was the one that wanted me dead," Arthur muttered and he could feel himself shaking.

"I want you all dead," Ivan smiled.

"Why?" Matthew asked.

"You do not deserve to know, da?" Ivan tilted his head to the side. Arthur took a small step back, ready to run, but Ivan didn't move. "Killing you now would be no fun, though."

"What do you care?" Alfred asked.

"I have not had a good plaything since your first lives," Ivan smiled. "You will not get where you want to, anyway, so I will have fun."

"Like what?" Arthur asked, very much dreading the answer.

"Like this," Ivan smiled. Arthur felt an overwhelming dizzy feeling for a short while and stumbled a bit. He looked down at the ground for a short while, but quickly got distracted by what he was wearing. Just before, he was wearing simple jeans, shirt, and jacket. Now, the best way to describe it was princely. It was like something out of the 15th century; a tunic and boots and pants…

"You look good as a prince, non?" Francis snickered.

"This is not funny!" Arthur snapped at him.

"How did you do that?" Matthew asked.

"It is a way for him to use his magic without it getting in my way," Ivan smiled.

"Magic?" Arthur asked.

"Anything he touches will turn to what it was in his first life," Ivan stated. "Other than people, of course."

"I don't have magic," Arthur shook his head.

"Denial," Ivan laughed. "Do not worry, I will assist you, just to make it more fun for me."

"You are just doing this for the fun of it?" Alfred asked.

"Da, Fredka," Ivan smiled at Alfred. "And do not fret about your heart. I will give you emotions. When I want to."

"How did you know about…" Matthew stepped forward.

"Goodbye," Ivan chuckled and walked behind the tree. He did have a rather large build, though, so it was odd not to see any part of him. Alfred walked behind the tree and looked around.

"He's not here," Alfred reported.

"What is this about a heart?" Francis asked, turning to Matthew.

"That's a long story," Matthew rubbed the back of his head, sighing.

"I have never felt anything," Alfred stated, leaning against the tree.

"What?" Arthur asked

"We're twins," Matthew shrugged. "But while I've been fairly normal, if not a bit shy, Alfred's been different. He never cried, never laughed, not even a smile… We had to stop bringing him to doctor's offices because no one could detect a heartbeat. They thought we were just one baby, until a scan proved something different."

"So does he not have a heart?" Francis asked.

"No one knows," Matthew shrugged. "Our parents never okayed a surgery to find out."

"Where are your parents now?" Arthur asked.

"They died a few years ago," Alfred stated, and it sounded like he didn't even care.

"Well, I can see you not having a heart," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"So, when that man was talking about helping us, what is he helping us with?" Matthew asked.

"In your case, it seems to be Alfred's heart," Francis stated. "Arthur and I do not have anything we care to find. What makes him think we will be together?"

"What was he trying to do to you?" Matthew asked Arthur. "You said he tried to kill you."

"He said I was from a fairytale, so I should have a fairytale death," Arthur muttered. "He tried to give me an apple, which I assume was poisoned."

"From a fairytale?" Matthew asked. "I don't know any fairytale with an Arthur."

"I do," Francis nodded.

"You do?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Oui," Francis smirked. "Before I ran into you, I was actually studying. I was majoring in folklore. There is a fairytale that is not very popular that I had found. I assume it's not popular mostly because the main characters are gay, but it also did not have a happy ending."

"A fairytale without a happy ending?" Matthew tilted his head to the side.

"An evil warlock found two kids in the woods one night," Francis stated. "He was looking for his apprentice and it just so happened to be one of the boys; Arthur. The other boy, Alfred, offered himself instead. Arthur was adopted into a royal family and, years later, was sent to Lord Ivan to deal with relations. They did not know Ivan was the warlock, but they did know Arthur was to be his apprentice with all of his magic. Alfred had gotten his heart torn out by the warlock to make sure he would obey and once Arthur found out, he tried to save him. It was all in vain, as the warlock crushed Alfred's heart."

"And you think we're just reincarnations of these fairytale characters?" Arthur scoffed.

"It is rather perfect," Francis shrugged. "Prince Arthur had a best friend named Francis Bonnefroy. Do you know the name of that man?"

"Ivan," Arthur muttered.

"So, how does all of this work?" Matthew asked. "Since that Alfred died without his heart, he's come back without one?"

"It is possible," Francis shrugged. "Out of all the fairytales I found, this was the only one without a happy ending. Maybe it is trying to correct itself."

"So how does Ivan know about all of this?" Arthur asked. "We didn't."

"It could be his magic," Francis shrugged. "It would make sense. He obviously still has it."

"And he's using mine to do this…" Arthur looked down at himself, "curse?"

"We aren't really sure if what he said was true," Matthew muttered.

"Do you want to test it out?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Try my phone," Alfred sighed, tossing his cell phone over. Arthur barely caught it in his hands and they all watched as it morphed into a quill, the feather the same blue that the phone was.

"Alfred, why did you just toss your phone to him?" Matthew sighed after overcoming the shock of what he had just seen.

"I have no need of it," Alfred shrugged. "And if we are going after my heart, then who would I have to call other than you?"

"You actually want to go after your heart?" Francis asked.

"Yes," Alfred nodded.

"Well, good luck with that, then," Arthur sighed and leaned against his own tree.

"You do not want to help them?" Francis asked.

"Why would I?" Arthur asked. "I've just met them!"

"And if the fairytale is true, then Alfred is your true love," Francis smirked.

"He can't love," Arthur stated. "If what you say is true, then he has no heart."

"If Ivan remembered with magic, maybe you can," Matthew muttered.

"What?" Arthur asked.

"Well, the Arthur from the story obviously would do anything for Alfred. Maybe if you remember what he did, then you would be willing to help us. I'm sure just me and Alfred alone won't be enough to go against the warlock," Matthew stated.

"How exactly do you propose I use magic to remember?" Arthur asked.

"That vision when you ran into me," Alfred stated.

"Hm?" Francis asked.

"You got a vision, too?" Arthur asked.

"Of playing in the woods with another kid," Alfred nodded.

"So we can just have you two touch," Francis shrugged. "True love is a magic itself."

"I highly doubt he is my true love," Arthur rolled his eyes. He had never even thought about love in the first place, let alone if he was gay.

"Why not just give it a try?" Matthew asked.

"Fine," Arthur groaned and swiftly walked over to Alfred. He settled with placing his hand on Alfred's shoulder, expecting nothing. However, he was overwhelmed with yet another vision. He could see Alfred, but he was different, brighter…happier. Arthur was getting close to his face, as if they were about to kiss, but something stopped them.

Arthur came back to reality and stumbled backwards, panting slightly. Even Alfred shook his head and blinked a few times coming out of the vision.

"What did you see?" Matthew asked.

"I…we…" Arthur muttered.

"We were about to kiss," Alfred blinked.

"I felt something, too," Arthur grabbed at his chest. Looking up, he could see that Alfred's shirt had changed into a tunic.

"Willing to help them now?" Francis asked.

"I can't believe I'm saying this…but yes," Arthur looked back at Francis.

"Really?" Matthew asked.

"We have nothing to go back to," Francis shrugged.

"Where do we start, then?" Arthur asked, straightening himself out.

"We can try this," Francis offered.

* * *

**Voila! Chapter 1! Finally, right? I really didn't mean for this to be so long, but the chapter started writing itself after 2,000 words and I couldn't stop it. They've now all made it into current times and this is where our story picks up where it left off. From here on out, practically every chapter will be based on an actual fairytale, and you'll usually be able to tell with the title.**

**Please review! It's totally awesome!**


	5. Breadcrumbs

"Breadcrumbs," Arthur stated, glancing down at the very obvious trail of breadcrumbs leading through the forest.

"Well, this is a fairy tale," Matthew shrugged.

"Hansel and Gretel is an odd start," Francis smirked. "But it can work."

"So, we simply follow the breadcrumbs to a house made of candy?" Arthur scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Let's go," Alfred walked through them and followed the thick line of breadcrumbs that wound through the forest.

"Alfred, wait up," Matthew let out a sigh and followed his brother. Arthur simply rolled his eyes and waited for Francis to begin moving before he did.

"Your brother likes to just get to things," Francis laughed.

"Well, he has no fear," Matthew sighed.

"How has he lived this long?" Arthur asked. He couldn't help but feel a small hint of concern, but he just decided it was residue from those visions he got.

"I've been there for him whenever he gets in trouble," Matthew stated.

"It is nice when brothers are there for you," Francis chimed and Arthur glared at him. He knew Francis was aiming that at him. Arthur had run away for a reason, however.

"Anything else in that story of yours we should know?" Arthur asked, changing the subject in favor of something he found slightly more comfortable, though he still couldn't quite grasp this whole thing.

"Not much," Francis shrugged. "Once Prince Arthur found out what had happened to his true love, he immediately challenged Ivan. He wound up striking a deal himself, to counteract Alfred's. To get Alfred's heart back, he agreed to be his apprentice. When Alfred got his heart back, he was enraged that his own deal was broken and they both fought back. They thought they won but Ivan then pulled Alfred's heart out again and crushed it."

"So, what does Ivan want from us?" Matthew asked.

"To have fun, is what he's let on," Arthur sighed. "He's been one of the most powerful people on Earth for quite a while. I'd bet he's gotten quite bored and this is just to have a bit of fun."

"He does apparently remember what happened to us," Francis stated.

"He was saying that this was the closest I had gotten," Arthur muttered. "When he tried to kill me the first time. Perhaps there is more than just the original story here."

"But if this is the closest you have gotten, then he has prevented this for quite some time," Francis nodded.

"Get down," Matthew's voice became even quieter and he and Alfred crouched beneath a nearby bush. Francis and Arthur went to the left and right, hiding behind nearby trees. Arthur dared a look around the tree and found a small cottage with little plumes of smoke coming out of the chimney.

"Well, that doesn't appear to be made up of candy," Arthur whispered, not entirely sure if there was anyone home.

"There are two women inside," Alfred reported. "They're cooking."

"Two witches?" Francis raised an eyebrow.

"They could not be witches," Matthew offered.

"So, who will go in?" Arthur asked. "It appears that the breadcrumbs lead to the door. Perhaps there's something in there that could lead us to the heart."

"I can go," Alfred said simply.

"I know how this fairy tale ends, mon ami," Francis shook his head. "I will not go in there."

"Then I will," Arthur stated when he saw Matthew sigh and open his mouth to offer himself.

"I can go," Matthew blinked.

"You've walked straight into too much danger for me," Arthur stated. Alfred had already stood up and was walking towards the cottage. Arthur had to jog to catch up with him. "You could at least wait, you know."

"I don't see a point in waiting around," Alfred stated. "I will need to find my heart soon."

"I understand that you're drawn to your heart," Arthur sighed. "But if you're reckless, you could die before you get it back. Apparently, it's happened before."

"I'll do what I need to get what I need," Alfred stated as they came up to the door.

"Just remember the fairy tale," Arthur sighed and decided to use the door knocker. It'd be better than Alfred simply barging in. "Don't eat anything."

"I do not even know when I am hungry," Alfred said. "Matthew is the one that makes sure I eat before I starve."

"You two are very strong," Arthur stated. Alfred didn't respond and they stood in silence for a short while before the door suddenly flew open, revealing a smiling woman with short, platinum blonde hair and blue eyes. Her most prominent feature, however, would be her enormous breasts. Upon realizing this, Arthur tried to focus on her face, which was very pretty.

"Hello!" the woman greeted, giving them both a large smile.

"Good evening," Arthur nodded, not trusting Alfred to be polite enough to say anything on his own.

"Come inside!" the woman made way for them in the doorway.

"Thank you, very much, Miss…" Arthur nodded and motioned for Alfred to walk in first.

"My full name is Katyushka," the woman smiled as Arthur stepped in and she closed the door. The inside of the house was far different than the outside. There were tables everywhere, all of them completely filled and stacked to the absolute brim with all sorts of treats and foods. Even Arthur, who was fairly good at controlling himself, had a hard time not just lunging to the tables and eating something. There were gorgeously crafted British pastries here and there and even some French food that looked rather good.

"If you want to eat, you may," Katyushka giggled, walking past them. "My sister and I were just about to make some stew, if you'll want that as well."

"No, thank you," Arthur shook his head.

"What about you?" Katyushka turned to Alfred. Arthur did as well, finding a very strange pique in emotion on his face. He remembered Ivan saying he would give emotions to Alfred as he pleased. Was this one of those? Alfred was eyeing the table with a dangerous look in his eyes. Was this greed?

"Alfred," Arthur snapped in a hushed tone and Alfred glanced at him before turning back to the food.

"I'm okay for now," Alfred stated. Arthur grabbed onto his wrist to make sure that Alfred wouldn't try to get to some of the food and they were both overwhelmed with a short image of Alfred opening a door to Arthur.

"I'm going to go check on my sister," Katyushka smiled and retreated to a different room.

"Alfred, what has gone over you?" Arthur asked quietly.

"It's probably greed," Alfred stated. "Or gluttony. But suddenly I'm really hungry."

"Remember my warning," Arthur glared at him, standing between him and the food.

"You do realize that I'm stronger than you and can easily get past you holding onto my hand," Alfred stated easily.

"You sure it's not pride?" Arthur scoffed.

"We have guests?" a new voice, more gruff than Katyushka asked. Arthur and Alfred turned their attention to the new woman in the doorway. She had very long hair the same color as Katyushka, and the same eyes, but they were colder, icy.

"Nice to meet you," Arthur bowed his head politely.

"Hungry?" the new woman asked bluntly.

"No," Alfred said quickly and Arthur sighed. Figures having no heart would make lying a hard feat.

"Do you want water?" Katyushka came out, holding two glasses nearly full with water. Before Arthur could even decline, a glass was shoved into his hand. Thankfully, due to the fact that it was a very simple, glass cup, it made no change in Arthur's hand.

"Thank you," Arthur nodded his head, though he had no intention of drinking this water. Drinking was probably just has bad as eating in this fairy tale.

"You do look hungry," the other woman smirked and Arthur immediately turned to Alfred.

"Alfred," Arthur snapped, gaining his attention once more.

"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce you!" Katyushka chimed. "This is my sister, Natalia."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Arthur nodded.

"Yeah," Alfred inputted helpfully.

"You can eat if you want," Natalia offered.

"We're fine, thank you," Arthur stated before Alfred could open his mouth again.

"You won't at least take a sip of water?" Katyushka tilted her head to the side cutely.

"Yes, thank you," Arthur begrudgingly brought the cup to his lips and tilted it back. He did not open his mouth, however, and just let the water hit his lips.

When he brought the cup back down and noticed Alfred slowly making his way over to the table, Arthur had to snap at him again.

"Alfred," Arthur stated and this time Alfred only vaguely looked back at him. Luckily, Arthur still had his hand on his wrist, and he could only hope that that would stop him.

"What? The food looks good," Alfred said off-handedly.

"You are not being yourself," Arthur sighed.

"Just one bite wouldn't be bad," Alfred shrugged and took a small step to the table.

"We've eaten before," Arthur stated, trying to pull him back, though Alfred was far stronger. "It would be rude to just eat their food."

"Not at all," Katyushka shook her head happily. "We are used to cooking a lot for our brother, he eats quite a lot. It is weird when he is not around and we can't help but make a lot of food."

"I miss brother," Natalia grumbled before turning back to Alfred. "Go ahead and take the food."

"They want me to," Alfred smirked.

"Remember what I said outside?" Arthur gave an exasperated sigh.

"Then stop me," Alfred grinned and ripped his hand out of Arthur's grasp. Before Arthur could stop him, Alfred already had something that looked like an American hamburger in his hand.

"Alfred," Arthur tried to move towards him, but Alfred already took a bite, and so all Arthur could do was groan. It was just a few seconds, but Alfred's eyes were already half-lidded and he dropped the burger. He swayed slightly back and forth before crumbling onto the ground.

"Oh, no!" Katyushka gasped at Alfred's reaction and immediately went to kneel next to him. On her way, she "accidentally" bumped into Arthur's glass, causing it to knock over, but in the process, splash water over his face.

Arthur blinked a few times, trying to get water out of his eyes, but then he noticed that some of the water had made its way into his mouth.

"Are you okay?" Natalia asked, but she held a smirk that Arthur found unnerving.

Arthur opened his mouth to respond, but found himself overwhelmed by fatigue. He could hardly bring himself to stand as he felt his eyes close and he crashed onto the ground.

* * *

Arthur had a small headache as he slowly came to. It felt like he was lying on something hard and he figured it must have been stone after running his fingers along it for a short while. He could hear people talking beyond him and it took him a few seconds before he realized that it was the two women from before.

"It's so weird how he won't even fight," Katyushka muttered.

"Easier for us," Natalia scoffed.

"But brother said-"

"Sh, the other one's awake," Natalia cut her off.

"The other one has a name," Arthur groaned as he slowly made himself sit up so he could see them. From what he could tell, he was in some sort of cell that was built into an old fashioned brick pocket in the wall with iron bars taking up the open wall. Outside the bars, Arthur could see what looked like a very old kitchen, almost like something out of the Middle Ages with the thick wooden tables and the oven built into the wall. The two girls were standing in the kitchen and Alfred was sitting in a chair, his hands tied behind his back.

"I don't want to hear your name," Natalia stated coldly.

"Sister," Katyushka scolded.

"What? You want me to be nice to them as their last wish?" Natalia scoffed.

"Oh, yes, the oven is almost ready!" Katyushka turned to the oven in the wall.

"So this is Hansel and Gretel," Arthur sighed and stood up. He tried to look around the bars to find a way out. There was a door, and Arthur could see a key set on its hook on the wall just a couple feet away from the edge of the cage. "Alfred, you aren't going to move or anything?"

"No," Alfred stated.

"You got him to talk," Katyushka gasped. "He hasn't talked since he woke up."

"How long have I been asleep?" Arthur asked.

"Not long, an hour," Natalia stated. "Alfred woke up a lot quicker. Guess he's stronger."

"Why are you deciding to cook him first, then?" Arthur asked, trying to buy time as he thought of some sort of feasible plan. If this really was Hansel and Gretel, then those two were some kind of witches… He would really have to think to get out of this one.

"Ivan told us to," Natalia grinned.

"Of course you work for Ivan," Arthur sighed, shaking his head.

"Not for, with," Katyushka stated. "The oven is ready, sister. Let us get started."

"Alfred," Arthur walked up close to the bars, trying to get Alfred's attention. "Why aren't you at least trying to get out?"

"I tried," Alfred blinked. "It didn't work, so why keep trying?"

"You are so useless," Arthur shook his head as Katyushka opened the door to the oven, revealing a bright fire that lapped at the air outside. Arthur bit his lip, trying to figure out what to do. Once Natalia pulled Alfred to his feet, Arthur even gripped at the bars with both of his hands. "Stop," Arthur tried to sound commanding.

"Make me," Natalia smirked.

Arthur clenched his jaw and glared at her. Apparently, he had magic, so he would have to try to figure out how to use it. But, he had the curse acting on him at the moment and he couldn't use it… He figured he would have to try as he saw Natalia walk him towards the oven.

"Stop!" Arthur yelled, shutting his eyes tightly. He felt an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach and a sudden light-headedness. When he opened his eyes, he saw Alfred looking down at his untied hands and the two women knocked out on the floor. The fire in the oven had even died. However, he did feel massively tired all of a sudden.

"Wow…" Alfred muttered, only slight emotion in his voice.

Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. Suddenly, he felt his hands beginning to burn and let go of the bars. It seemed like they were nearly corroded by acid or something…

"We thought you two were getting a little over your heads," Francis laughed as he and Matthew stepped into the room. "We started to get worried after a while."

"And you wait a bloody hour to check?!" Arthur snapped at them.

"The fairy tale had to run its course," Francis shrugged.

"I wanted to come in," Matthew sighed. "But something was keeping me still."

"Ivan?" Arthur guessed. Did he not want someone interfering when they were close to death like he wanted?

"When we saw that bright light you just made," Francis calmly walked up to Arthur's cage, "we were allowed to come in."

"Bright light?" Arthur asked.

"You did make a bright light," Alfred reported. "When you yelled at them to stop."

"Looks like you nearly managed to melt your way through the bars," Francis smirked, poking at the melted pieces of the bars.

"Just hurry up and get me out of here," Arthur scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. He tried not to show his fatigue; he didn't want to slow them all down, after all.

"But I rather like you in there," Francis teased.

"Francis, let him out," Matthew sighed, walking up to Alfred and checking him over, probably to make sure he didn't harm himself too much.

"I'm fine, Matthew," Alfred stated, waving him away.

"What will I get out of this deal if I get you out?" Francis smirked.

"I'm not going to give you anything," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Then what will give me to help you out?" Francis asked.

"The fact that I know where we have to go next?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"You do?" Matthew asked.

"Yes," Arthur nodded. This was true; he just figured it out by looking out the only window he could see in the entire cottage.

"Let him out, then," Matthew glared at Francis.

"D'accord, d'accord," Francis sighed and reached for the key on the wall.

"This place is pretty old fashioned," Matthew muttered, looking around it.

"Yes, I assume it's because of Ivan," Arthur sighed.

"What will we do with those two?" Francis asked curiously and took his time putting the key into the keyhole. "Shall we finish the fairy tale?"

"Don't kill them," Alfred said quickly.

"Why not?" Matthew asked.

"Ivan wants them alive," Alfred stated.

"Is he in your head?" Arthur asked.

"He may still have some control over him still from the first fairy tale," Francis muttered, finally unlocking and opening the door. Arthur quickly stepped out before Francis could try anything like Arthur knew he was going to do.

"Kill them and you're dead in a second," Alfred warned, his voice still flat. Oddly enough, this made the statement even more intimidating.

"Then we will just leave them," Arthur stated.

"Where are we going now?" Matthew asked.

"There," Arthur pointed to the window and the rest of them all looked out.

"Hansel and Gretel to Rapunzel?" Francis laughed.

* * *

**This was pretty much my first time writing Ukraine and Belarus, what do you guys think? Did I do a good job? Also! I want to start a little contest here. Ivan's up to something. I'm not entirely sure if any of you guys have caught onto it or not, but he _is_ up to something. First person to guess what he's doing will get a Hetalia one-shot from me once this story's done! Hints will be dropped as a part of the story because the characters all still needs to figure it out, as well. Good luck!**

**And please review! It's totally awesome and keeps me writing!**


	6. Tower

"Why does it have to be a bloody tower?" Arthur sighed, looking up at the rather tall tower in front of the four of them. It seemed to be completely made of bricks with a few vines around the bottom, which showed just how old this thing must have been. There was a single window, near the top, that had open shutters.

"It is not a proper fairy tale without a damsel in distress in a tower," Francis smirked.

"Sod off," Arthur rolled his eyes. "How can we even tell if someone is up there?"

"We'd have to go up and check," Matthew muttered.

"I can go," Alfred shrugged and started towards the tower, but Arthur stopped him.

"The last time you simply charged in, you almost got baked into a pie," Arthur glared at him.

"But I didn't," Alfred said bluntly.

"I have to agree with Arthur," Francis stated. "We cannot simply barge in."

"Alright," Alfred relaxed and Arthur did, too.

"So, what is our plan?" Matthew asked.

"I have no idea," Francis shook his head, looking back up at the tower.

"There has to be something in it worthwhile," Arthur sighed. "Perhaps through the window."

"Could there be somewhere it's trying to show us?" Matthew asked.

"The only way to find out is to go up," Alfred stated.

"Yes, well, we can't just go right up there," Arthur glared at him and Alfred simply shrugged.

"It may be our best option," Francis sighed.

"What?" Arthur whipped around to glare at him, too. "You can't be serious."

"What could happen?" Francis laughed, motioning up at the tower.

"He could die?" Arthur offered. "Just like what happened about 5 bloody minutes ago?"

"You care for him a lot, don't you?" Francis smirked.

"Shut up," Arthur sighed.

"Who else could climb up the tower?" Matthew asked. "I know I can't, Francis doesn't really look like he could and, Arthur, you look really tired. The only one of us that I think is strong enough to do it would be Alfred."

"Plus the fact that it is really high up," Francis stated. "I do not think I could do it without looking down and backing out."

"Fine," Arthur sighed. "Go, climb. If you die, it won't be my fault."

"Good," Alfred walked up to the tower. He got a good grip with his right hand and then his right foot before he reached up to get higher up with his left hand and foot. He moved rather quickly and, before long, he was halfway up.

"You know, it rather looks like you are enjoying the view from down here," Francis snickered.

"Shut up," Arthur elbowed him, but still blushed and looked down at the ground.

"In all fairness, you are supposed to fall in love with him," Francis laughed. "It is just such a shame he cannot feel love yet."

"I think he's found someone in the tower," Matthew said and Arthur looked up again. Surprisingly, Alfred had already made it to the top and was crouching in the windowsill. It seemed that he was looking at something inside intently.

"I cannot tell if he is talking or not," Francis squinted up at him.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Arthur muttered. After all, this was one of Ivan's tricks. If someone was in there, just like the witches, it couldn't be good.

Just as Arthur had predicted, Alfred looked to be pulled into the tower and the shutter doors closed. The brick of the tower quickly morphed over it, making it look like it was never even there.

"Alfred!" Matthew and Arthur shouted at the same time.

"Well, that was not good," Francis chuckled.

"Really?" Arthur glared at him. "I knew he shouldn't have gone up!"

"Let's not fight," Matthew sighed. "We have to find a way up."

"The only way in was that window," Arthur groaned. He felt the need to hit something, so he flung his fist at the tower. Along with the searing pain of hitting a solid brick tower, Arthur felt something else. He could feel it drain him slightly, so he could tell it was magic.

"Angry, are we?" Francis snickered.

"Shut up for a second," Arthur stated and tentatively put his hand back on the tower. He felt…something weird. He couldn't quite explain it, it just felt like there was something else in the tower. It wasn't solid all the way around. Dragging his hand across the wall as he walked, Arthur went around to the other side of the tower. His hand was on the brick, but he could feel that there was nothing there.

"Are you finally going insane?" Francis laughed.

"Didn't I say shut up?" Arthur snapped quickly before turning his attention to the tower again. He tried pushing his hand more into the brick wall that didn't feel like it was there and he saw his hand sink into the bricks.

"Whoa," Matthew gasped.

"I think this portion of the wall is an illusion," Arthur muttered, pushing his hand all the way through.

"You're magic is useful yet again," Francis said happily.

"Let me go first so that you two know where to walk," Arthur glared at Francis for a short while. "It's only a small portion of the wall." With that, Arthur simply walked through the wall. He emerged in some sort of stuffy room. It was round, so it was obviously the base of the tower. It had nothing in it, save for a spiral wooden staircase that, when Arthur looked up, seemed to go all the way to the top of the tower.

"Wow," Matthew laughed as he walked through, behind Arthur.

"It does feel a little odd walking through a wall," Arthur smiled.

"Mon dieu!" Francis shouted and the two looked around. Francis came through the wall, crouching slightly and holding onto his face. "Why do you two have to be so short?"

"Aw, did you hit your face?" Arthur smirked. "Shame, I thought that meant it might start looking better."

"Hey! My face is gorgeous!" Francis snapped.

"If you two wouldn't mind," Matthew tentatively spoke up. "We need to get to Alfred."

"Right," Arthur nodded and started for the stairs. At least everything in here seemed old fashioned so he wouldn't have to be worried about turning anything back in time. The second Arthur set his foot down, he felt something again. It was the same as the last time; he could tell that there were a few steps missing. "Great…"

"What?" Matthew asked.

"It seems that there are a few more illusions on our way up," Arthur sighed, looking up.

"You can go first, then," Francis chimed.

"Shut it, frog," Arthur glared at him. "I could easily make you go up first."

"Let's just go, please," Matthew stated.

Arthur nodded and started up the stairs, Matthew and then Francis following behind him. He came up to quite a few steps that he knew wouldn't be there and easily skipped over them. If this was supposed to be some sort of challenge, it wasn't very hard. It wasn't even draining Arthur that much, like what happened the last time he used magic.

It wasn't long before they had made it to a fairly large wooden door at the top of the stairs. There was a rock wall along either side of it marking the end of the trek.

"Could this be an illusion as well?" Francis asked.

"I don't think so," Arthur muttered, moving his hands to touch the door. He got no weird feelings form it and tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"You could have to pull it," Matthew tried.

"There's no handle," Arthur said, feeling around the door for something.

"Maybe you just have to make a handle," Francis offered.

"If this is Rapunzel," Arthur sighed, stepping back slightly to examine the door, "then this tower is designed to keep something in and make sure nothing can get to it. I doubt just making a handle will help us get inside."

"Maybe you could try to morph your way in," Matthew said. "Like how we went through the brick, except this one is real."

"I don't even know how to properly use this magic," Arthur sighed. "Besides, I probably won't be able to use most of it in the first place, considering this blasted curse."

"You have to try," Matthew shrugged. "You may be the only way we can get to Alfred."

"No promises," Arthur shook his head and placed his hands back on the door. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He had no idea how magic worked; if he needed to say a spell or simply think about it. So, he decided to just think about it, since no spells had come to mind. He tried to imagine himself simply morphing through the door. First, his hands, and then his arms, and then he could walk through.

He felt an overwhelming wave of fatigue come over him as he stumbled forward and fell onto the ground. He opened his eyes and used his hands to catch himself before he possibly face-planted. He quickly looked behind him at the door, which still remained happily closed.

"Amazing!" a new, female voice chirped in front of him and Arthur dragged his attention to her. A woman stood in front of him with long brown hair and green eyes. She wore simple clothes and, oddly enough, was holding a frying pan in her hand.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked, quickly standing up and looked around the room. It was about half of the area of the tower, the floor and wall made out of wood. There was a window across from them, which proved to Arthur that the brick wall covering was just an illusion, and a bed and desk with a mirror on it. Sitting on the bed, simply staring at the wall, was Alfred.

"My name is Elizaveta!" the woman chimed happily. "But you can call me Eliza."

"What are you doing up here?" Arthur asked hesitantly. He knew that this could easily become dangerous, as they were locked in a room with a woman who was quite possibly under the control of Ivan.

"What does it look like?" Elizaveta asked. "I'm stuck."

"How did Alfred get in, then?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, so that's his name?" Elizaveta giggled, glancing over at Alfred, who simply sat still. "Ivan told me about you two!"

"What about us?" Arthur asked slowly.

"All about you!" Elizaveta sighed dreamily. "About your tragic past and how you're doomed to relive your lives until you can finally be together again!"

"That would be one way to put it," Arthur muttered. The way she put it, it was like she was talking about Romeo and Juliet or some type of star-crossed lovers.

"I think it's so amazingly cute and romantic!" Elizaveta swooned.

"Right," Arthur nodded. "So, mind telling me what you are doing with that frying pan?"

"I dunno," Elizaveta shrugged. "I had this dream one night that I would need to hit someone with it eventually," she flipped the pan a few times, catching it every time. "Guess I'll know who when I see 'em."

"You don't want to hurt either of us?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, no!" Elizaveta shook her head rapidly. "I think you two should be together in the end. But Ivan's not quite done yet."

"Done with what, exactly?" Arthur asked.

"I can't tell you," Elizaveta shrugged.

"Can you tell me why you are trapped up here?" Arthur asked tentatively.

"Well, even I don't know the reason very well," Elizaveta shrugged. "You see, I have my own fairy tale, but it's not unfinished. It's just stuck on repeat, but in a bunch of different ways. I went to Ivan for help about it and he stuck me in here. Supposedly, it will help."

"Interesting," Arthur muttered, glancing back at Alfred, who was still as a statue. "Do a lot of people go to Ivan for help?"

"It depends on the severity of their problem," Elizaveta shrugged. She started pacing, tossing up her frying pan and catching it several times. "If it's something that affects their lives, then Ivan would probably help them. Unless he doesn't really like what'll happen in the end. It's kind of the job of the wizard to help people."

"From Francis' story, Ivan doesn't seem like the type to just go around and help people," Arthur muttered.

"Oh, he doesn't do it in the usual way," Elizaveta shook her head. "Usually, he gets a little fun out of it first! And eventually, the people who asked for help wind up solving their own problems, Ivan just showed them the best way to get through it."

"And what he's doing to Alfred and I would be…?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"I can't tell you," Elizaveta wagged her finger at him and glanced back at Alfred. "Is it normal for him to do this?"

"Usually, he says something and doesn't just sit there," Arthur muttered, walking towards Alfred. Now that he could tell that this woman most likely wouldn't harm them, he felt more comfortable with putting his back to her. The only weapon she had was a frying pan, after all. "Alfred?"

"Yeah?" Alfred muttered through clenched teeth.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked.

"You got him to talk!" Elizaveta clapped. "Oh, true love!"

"Trying to control…" Alfred mumbled.

"Did Ivan give you another emotion?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, he did," Elizaveta said thoughtfully. "I almost forgot. Oh, this will be so exciting!"

"What emotion, exactly?" Arthur asked, turning his head to look at Elizaveta.

"Get a little closer to him and you'll figure it out," Elizaveta winked, waving her frying pan around and pacing on the other side of the room, obviously giving them room for something…

"Don't," Alfred muttered and Arthur looked back to him. Something was definitely off.

"Oh, come on!" Elizaveta sighed. It sounded like she was nearly on the edge of her seat for this. "You're so close!"

"What are you even-" Arthur didn't even get a chance to turn around before Alfred suddenly shot up from his sitting position and lurched Arthur into a very deep kiss. Arthur opened his eyes wide and tried to step back, but Alfred roughly pulled him so that Arthur couldn't even move if he tried.

At first, all Arthur could think about doing was getting away as quickly as possible. Every thought was transformed to something that was apparently in his past life and he had to watch the mirage until he had to close his eyes. Arthur could only guess that Alfred was overcome with lust, with the way that he seemed to be kissing Arthur like he was about to die at any second. Arthur nearly allowed himself to relax and actually even kiss back as Alfred used his tongue to ask for entrance into his mouth.

But Arthur knew where he head was supposed to be doing, rather than kissing someone he had met just that day. Although, this nice collage of images was proving that Arthur definitely knew Alfred from somewhere before. Even if it was hundreds of years ago…

Arthur kept his mouth shut tightly, even as Alfred tried even harder.

"Alfred…" Arthur muttered, still trying to get out of Alfred's very strong grip. "Stop." A familiar pit appeared in his stomach and Alfred froze before pulling back sharply.

"Sorry," Alfred muttered, stepping back quite a lot. Evidently, they had moved quite a lot with Alfred's advancements.

"I'm guessing that's lust?" Arthur muttered, gasping slightly for breath.

"Aw, why'd you have to end that?" Elizaveta pouted.

"You have got to be kidding me," Arthur gaped at her.

"It's still impressive that you were able to counteract the spell," Elizaveta smiled. "Even over that curse. It's no wonder you would be the next wizard."

"If I don't die first," Arthur scoffed and rolled his eyes. He turned back to the door, trying to see if he could figure out a way for the other two to come into the room as well.

"Your friends won't be able to come in," Elizaveta shook her head. "Ivan doesn't want them to come in, so they won't be able to. You have that curse on you, too, so your magic won't do anything against it."

"What are we even supposed to do here?" Arthur asked, turning towards her. "Did Ivan just want to see what would happen with that emotion?"

"No," Elizaveta shook her head. "It was more like seeing what you can overcome over the curse."

"So, when are we done?" Arthur asked. "For the last one, we were done when I knocked out those two witches."

"When you figure out where to go," Elizaveta shrugged. "Ivan wants you somewhere, so he's led you to a place in the most entertaining way possible to it."

"Where does he want us to go?" Arthur asked and decided to walk towards the window, the only way to see out of this tower. It was tall enough for him to look over the tree tops in the forest around them. Arthur could see, probably less than a mile away, was a city. It was fairly large, but it wasn't massive. "We have to go there?" Arthur felt his stomach drop. What would happen with this curse if he touched something in the city? Anything. That was probably what Ivan wanted; to laugh while Arthur tried to make it through a city without being noticed.

"Yes," Elizaveta nodded. "You know, I've been staring at that city since it's started being constructed."

"How long have you been here?" Arthur asked.

"Quite a while," Elizaveta stated. "I'm simply waiting for my prince charming to come and whisk me away."

Behind them, Arthur could hear the door squeak open and Elizaveta's eyes widened.

"You!" Elizaveta yelled, pointing at Francis.

"Moi?" Francis raised an eyebrow, obviously still taking in the situation

"Is he the one you're supposed to…?" Arthur couldn't help but start laughing as Elizaveta started inching towards Francis, holding up the frying pan like she would swing it at any second.

"What?" Matthew asked and Francis just looked at them with dead confusion on his face.

"As much as I would love to see you hit him," Arthur quickly snatched away Elizaveta's frying pan, "we need him to walk."

"Did you find out where we're going next?" Matthew asked.

"Look out the window," Alfred stated.

Francis eased his way around Elizaveta and quickly looked out the window.

"We are going to a city?" Francis raised an eyebrow and turned around. "With Arthur the way he is?"

"Only way to find Alfred's heart, I think," Arthur stated, glancing at Alfred, who simply looked away.

"I sense some tension here," Francis laughed. "What happened while he were not here?"

"Let's get started," Arthur started towards the door, handing Elizaveta her frying pan back. "Good luck with your fairy tale."

"Thank you," Elizaveta nodded and Arthur started down the stairs.

* * *

**This chapter was kind of hard. The only plan I had in my head was "Tower." Then I was thinking about Tangled and then I started thinking about Elizaveta. So, there you go! I didn't want her to be under the control of Ivan, so I did something else with her. Her prince charming can be left to your imagination. I have no idea if she'll return or not. She might, who knows.**

**Also, a couple people have been guessing about Ivan, but they're not right yet! I'm trying to drop hints without being too obvious, but it's hard...**

**Anywho, please review! It's totally, freaking awesome.**


	7. Liar

"Why would Ivan want us here?" Matthew asked as their group stood at the very outskirts of the city, just beyond the forest.

"Probably just to mess with me," Arthur grumbled. "I won't be able to take five steps into that bloody city without being noticed."

"Well, it is not a very big city," Francis shrugged. "I have seen bigger."

"Let's just go," Alfred started walking, but Matthew let out a sigh and grabbed onto his wrist to stop him.

"Not again, Alfred," Matthew sighed.

"There is no point in just standing around and waiting if it won't get better," Alfred stated bluntly.

"We could come up with a plan, you twit!" Arthur glared at him. "There could easily be a trick and I don't intend on saving your arse once again."

"Fine, then, make a plan," Alfred stared at him.

"It is not that easy," Francis chuckled as Arthur silently fumed. Alfred was beginning to annoy him with his actions at this point. He couldn't just swoop in and save him every time, after all.

"You _are_ here!" a new voice shouted and Arthur simply rolled his eyes. Another person under Ivan's control, probably.

Arthur looked over at the sound of the voice and found a small boy running at them. He had sandy blonde hair and donned in a blue and white sailor's outfit. Looking at both Francis and Matthew, Arthur found that they were all equally confused.

"Ivan told me I could find you here!" the small sailor ran up to Arthur and happily looked up at him with bright, blue eyes.

"Ivan?" Arthur blinked. He did guess right, but what did this little kid have to do with Ivan? "How do you know Ivan, lad?" Arthur asked as he kneeled down to go to his level.

"He's been helping me, sir!" the little kid smiled widely. "He told me to go find you to give you a proper welcome!"

"Did he tell you what I looked like? Arthur asked.

"I've already seen you a lot before," the little kid said happily.

"You have?" Arthur asked. Last he knew, this was his first time seeing the kid.

"Must be some horror," Francis remarked, "seeing him everywhere."

"Sod off, you!" Arthur snapped at him.

"Oh! My name's Peter, by the way!" the kid turned Arthur's attention back to him.

"Well, then, Peter, what has Ivan been helping you with?" Arthur asked. Perhaps this kid wasn't under the control of Ivan, just like Elizaveta.

"Well, a lot of the people here don't like me very much," Peter stated, but he didn't seem at all depressed by it. "It's because I can see these things they can't and they think I'm crazy. Ivan came and told me that me seeing those things was really a good thing! That I was special! I think he said it meant that I had magic. He's been helping me with that!"

"How often do you see him?" Arthur asked. So someone else had magic? In Francis' story, it almost seemed like Arthur and Ivan were the only two with magic. Perhaps it was just powerful magic.

"Well, not a lot," Peter mused. "He says he's busy with someone else. So, when I asked who, he told me all about you!"

"Do you know why he's doing all of this?" Arthur asked.

"You mean you don't?" Peter asked.

"This makes two people that actually like him," Matthew muttered and Arthur looked up at him.

"In the story, it appears that Ivan is cruel," Francis muttered in thought. "Perhaps there is another side to him."

"Or maybe not," Alfred stated.

"Well, I mean, he's really creepy," Peter stated. "But once you get past that, he's a pretty good guy."

"And the fact that he's tried to kill us is?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I can't tell you," Peter smiled sheepishly. "He told me I can't give anything away."

"Well, isn't that lovely," Arthur sighed, shaking his head.

"So, that's Alfred, right?" Peter asked, staring at Alfred around Arthur.

"Yes," Arthur nodded.

"Awesome!" Peter immediately ran around Arthur to get to Alfred and Arthur stood up. "You're my favorite character from that story!"

"I am?" Alfred asked.

"Well, you're the hero, aren't you?" Peter beamed at him.

"Some hero," Arthur scoffed.

"Well, not now," Peter glanced back at him. "But he did give his heart away to save you. Which is pretty heroic!"

"So, him being the hero makes him your favorite character?" Francis asked.

"Yeah!" Peter nodded feverishly. "He was pretty cool as a kid, though. And Ivan's always talking about how hard it is to contain all of his emotions."

"It's a little hard to imagine him with proper emotions," Arthur smirked.

"Do you know if Ivan really is going to give Alfred his heart back?" Matthew asked.

"Of course!" Peter nodded. "Ivan never breaks deals he makes. Never."

"He didn't make a deal with us," Arthur stated.

"Oops," Peter mumbled and quickly ran up to Arthur, grabbing onto his wrist. "Come on! I'm gonna show you some of my friends!"

Before Arthur could even say anything, Peter ran straight into the city. Arthur had to run, too, to keep up with him, and had to maneuver himself so that he didn't run into anyone or anything as Peter ran. Arthur did notice that, as they passed people, quite a few of them seem to either glare at Peter or just scoff at them.

"They should be right over…" Peter muttered to himself, obviously unperturbed by the people around them. "Here!" Peter immediately ducked into a random alley way and Arthur was finally allowed to stop and pant.

"What was that running for?" Arthur grumbled.

"Well, it didn't seem like you were about to just walk in here on your own so I gave you a little push," Peter smiled. "Ivan said I might need to."

"Right," Arthur muttered and straightened himself out. "So, where are these friends of yours?"

"Right in front of you," Peter smiled and Arthur looked in front of them. All he could see was the trashcans at the end of the brick alley way. "Hey guys!"

"Oh," Arthur mumbled, deflating slightly. Arthur knew a thing or two about this; imaginary friends. He had quite a few as a child and his brothers teased him mercilessly for it, so he simply had to get rid of them. What was he supposed to do with this child seeing these things?

"This one," Peter ran up to the trashcans and held the palm of his hand up, "is a fairy named Tinker Bell. Oh, and the one flying over here is Flying Mint Bunny. And then Captain Hook is standing really close to you over there. Oh, and this is the Unicorn right over here next to these trashcans!"

"Um, Peter, I-"

"Do you know how hard it is to catch up with you two?" Francis panted, leaning against the brick wall of the alley way.

"It wasn't hard at all," Alfred stated.

"That's because you don't feel exertion," Matthew grumbled.

"You guys can meet my friends, too!" Peter said excitedly.

"What friends?" Alfred asked bluntly and Arthur nearly face-palmed.

"They're right here," Peter said proudly, standing in the middle of the alley way happily.

"Um, where?" Francis asked.

"Well, I know you can't see them," Peter said with a wave of his hand. "But you can see them, right Arthur?"

"I-I…well…" Arthur muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"Y-You don't?" Peter's smile disappeared. "Ivan said you would. He said that you always saw things like this as a kid!"

"A-As a kid, maybe," Arthur sighed.

"Well, Ivan can see them!" Peter said defensively. "Maybe you should just stick around him more, jerk!"

"Peter, I-" Arthur winced at the insult.

"Look over there," a woman said loudly behind them to her friend.

"He's got another group in his trap."

"I wonder what lie he's telling today."

"You're just like them, right?" Peter looked almost as if he was about to cry. "You don't believe me."

"We never said that," Matthew said quickly.

"But I can see in your faces," Peter pouted. "Everyone's like that here. They all hate me because they think I'm telling a lie, but I'm not!"

"Peter, I know how it feels to not have people believe you," Arthur stated. "I used to see things, too."

"Then you should still be able to see them!" Peter shouted. "I thought you were gonna be cool; the Arthur from the story with magic and everything. But now I see you're just a big, fat jerk!" Peter ran through them, shoving them out of the way and ran down the street, away from them.

"That escalated quickly," Francis muttered.

"No one believes him," Arthur sighed. "And he expected me to. I imagine his heart's broken."

"What lie do you think he was talking about?" Matthew asked. "He said that they hate him because of a lie and those women were talking about it, too."

"Well, everything we have been to has been a fairy tale," Francis mused. "What is a fairy tale about lying?"

"The boy who cried wolf," Arthur muttered, his eyes widening. "That ends with the boy dying…"

"Where did Peter go to?" Matthew muttered, looking over to where Peter ran to.

"The forest," Alfred stated.

"No," Arthur shook his head and immediately took off running. Peter was probably going into the forest to find this wolf or whatever he was telling people he could see and prove that what he could see was real. Arthur had even tried that when he was a kid, but his whole family just laughed it off when he came back battered and bruised after trying to capture the sasquatch. Arthur stopped once he reached the forest. That was real, wasn't it? The sasquatch…

"Peter?" Arthur yelled into the forest. "Peter, where are you?"

"Over here," said a voice that definitely wasn't Peter. Arthur looked around to see where it came from but found nothing.

"Who was that?" Arthur asked loudly.

"You still can't see me," the voice sighed and Arthur felt something roughly hit him in the back, making him walk forward. "Here, let me guide you."

"What the hell are you?" Arthur asked, trying to look behind him, but he saw nothing.

"Once you see me, you'll know exactly who I am," the voice chimed. "But I don't have time for that. We have to get to Peter."

"What is he going after?" Arthur asked, trying to get over the ghost moving him along at a running pace now.

"The wolf, of course," the voice scoffed. "You should know this, mister sasquatch man."

"How do you know about that?" Arthur asked.

"I was there," the voice sighed.

Arthur opened his mouth to question the voice, but he was cut off by the sound of a scream. It was definitely Peter's voice.

"Peter!" Arthur immediately started to run faster, towards the sound. He didn't know why he cared so much for this child that he had just met, maybe it was the fact that they shared the burden of imaginary friends. Or maybe this was what Ivan wanted. But Arthur didn't care, he had to help Peter.

Eventually, he found him, lying against a tree. He was battered and bruised and seemed to have a very nasty cut on his arm, which he was holding close to his body.

"Peter," Arthur let out a sigh of relief and immediately went to kneel in front of the boy. "What happened to you?"

"Go away, jerk," Peter mumbled.

"I have to get you back," Arthur muttered. "We need to get that arm looked at."

"I'll be fine," Peter sniffled and Arthur could see tears streaking his face.

"He's even more hurt than you were," the voice stated.

"Flying Mint Bunny led you here?" Peter asked, looking up at something Arthur couldn't see.

"That's the voice I'm hearing?" Arthur asked.

"You can hear them now?" Peter's eyes widened.

"I-I guess," Arthur muttered.

"It's back," Peter squeaked, his eyes turning to look behind Arthur. Arthur looked over his shoulder, but found nothing.

"I…I can't see anything," Arthur shook his head, turning back to him.

"But you have to!" Peter yelled at him. "You have a lot more magic than me, you can get rid of it!"

"Is there something wrong with the wolf?" Arthur asked, choosing to go along with it, mostly because of the voice.

"It's going to hurt everyone," Peter said with a pleading tone, like he wanted Arthur to stop it. But Arthur couldn't even use magic properly. What he said, though, stuck with Arthur. It made him remember that sasquatch. He said it would hurt everyone and he wanted his brothers to stop it before it could. But they just laughed it off. And…Flying Mint Bunny helped him.

Out of nowhere, a mint green bunny with wings appeared next to Peter's head and Arthur felt his jaw drop.

"Flying Mint Bunny?" Arthur muttered and the two looked back at him.

"You can see me?" Flying Mint Bunny asked and Arthur nodded.

"You can see them!" Peter shouted happily, but he was cut short by the sound of a very loud, very menacing growl. Arthur looked over to the sound and found a fairly large, jet black wolf baring it's fangs at them.

"That's the wolf?" Arthur asked, panic rising in his voice.

"You have to stop it!" Peter pleaded. "I can't! I'm not powerful enough, but you are!"

"I-I don't know what to do," Arthur muttered and saw the wolf slowly start to walk towards them, like he was using them as prey.

"Something!" Peter snapped.

Arthur's mind raced for a moment. This was all a too much to take in at one time; his imaginary friends being real, a menacing wolf in front of them, and having to figure out some way to stop it. In his blind panic, Arthur tried simply shooting his hand out, hoping some type of fire would come at the wolf, but nothing happened.

"I-I can't do anything," Arthur muttered, shaking his head.

"We're gonna die," Peter muttered and Arthur looked back at the wolf. It was very close now.

It let out a low growl and looked as if it was about to pounce. Without thinking, Arthur put himself in front of Peter, in hopes of shielding him from the lunge…

That never came…

Arthur looked behind him, half expecting that wolf to be there to bite his face off, but instead found Alfred standing in front of them, kneeling down slightly.

"Bad dog," Alfred stated and Arthur heard the wolf whimper at the same time he heard a thud on the ground.

"Alfred?" Arthur muttered. He could actually see these things, too?

"The hero to the rescue!" Peter shouted happily.

"Get out of here," Alfred kicked at the wolf, making it whimper again and it soon ran off, away from the city, with it's tail in-between it's legs.

"You can see them, too?" Arthur asked.

"Yes," Alfred nodded as Peter hopped up onto his feet and started yelling random praises at Alfred.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Arthur demanded, standing up quickly to glare at him.

"No one asked me," Alfred blinked.

"Wow," Francis chuckled. Arthur turned and saw him standing with Matthew next to him. "That was entertaining to watch."

"Don't tell me you can see them," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Non," Francis shook his head.

"From what I saw," Matthew stated, "Alfred was fighting with the air."

"Well, he was fighting the wolf!" Peter said happily. "And he won! Ivan told me Arthur would be the one to do it, but I guess that means he failed."

"Failed what?" Arthur asked.

"I can't tell you," Peter groaned. "I've already told you too much."

"Well," Arthur sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We should get your wounds checked out."

"Oh, you don't need to," Peter shook his head happily.

"And why is that?" Arthur asked, feeling some sort of parental control take him over.

"I can do this," Peter smiled before closed his eyes and making a serious face. Before long all of his cuts and bruises seemed to just fade away.

"Incroyable," Francis muttered.

"And I can help Alfred, too!" Peter said proudly.

"Alfred?" Arthur glanced at Alfred, who shrugged and held out his right arm, which had massive bite marks in it, which were bleeding profusely.

"How can he bleed without a heart?" Francis mused as Matthew immediately ran to his brother's side.

"You got hurt again?" Matthew scolded. "You have to be more careful."

"I had to," Alfred stated.

"He did it to save us," Arthur muttered. "I doubt Ivan would give you the emotion to save us."

"He would to keep you alive," Peter stated.

"You mean he doesn't want us dead?" Arthur asked.

"Of course not," Peter shook his head. "And I'm sure that if Alfred wasn't here, he would have stopped that wolf himself."

"Can you please heal Alfred, quickly?" Matthew pleaded as Arthur tried to take in what Peter just said. Arthur wanted as Peter made the bite marks disappear, but it didn't quite sink in. Ivan didn't want to kill them? But he even told them that he wanted to kill them…

"Crap," Peter sighed, slouching slightly after healing Alfred's wound. "I'm in trouble now."

"What?" Arthur asked.

"I just gave away a lot," Peter mumbled. "Ivan's mad at me."

"What, exactly, does he do when he's mad at you?" Arthur asked.

"He wants me to take you to the mansion," Peter stated and quickly grabbed onto Arthur's hand, pulling him with him once again towards the city.

"Wait a second," Arthur groaned as he accidentally bumped into someone and they cursed at what happened. "You didn't answer my question."

"The mansion is right around here," Peter mumbled and Arthur looked around. This seemed like an abandoned part of town, but at the end of the street, there was a fairly large mansion, standing proud and dilapidated.

"Why are we going to the mansion?" Arthur asked.

"Another task," Peter quickly ran up to the doors of the mansion and tugged one open. "Good luck!"

"Just wait a bloody second!" Arthur snapped, but Peter simply shoved him inside the mansion and slammed the door closed behind him. Arthur didn't even know how this was possible, but the entire room was black, making it impossible for him to see anything.

* * *

**I'm really, really sorry for the wait, guys! I had this breakdown that led to me not writing for a week, but now I'm back on track and I will be writing once a week. I might have to move it to Sundays, though, because I'm going to start camping. But I swear I will write weekly again!**

**No one's guessed what Ivan's up to, so I gave you some pretty big hints because Peter likes to talk. You know, I really like writing Peter, he gets really entertaining!**

**Anywho…I'm really sorry for the wait and please review!**


	8. Beasts

Arthur didn't have to wait long in the darkness before he heard someone else in there with him. Knowing better than to stand still, considering this was Ivan's doing, Arthur silently slunk over to the side. They probably expected him to stay at the door, so his best chance was to slide his way along the wall until he found some window or something.

This proved to be a bad idea very quickly as his hand hit a light switch. It let out a very large spark that sounded with a _POP_ and whatever it turned into shattered onto the floor. Arthur let out a small yelp of pain as the shock had hit his hand.

"Found him!" a voice said proudly. "Told you my awesomeness couldn't steer us wrong!"

Before Arthur could even try to run, two sets of hands grabbed onto his arms, and someone even swooped his legs of the ground. Arthur tried to fight back, but they were all stronger than him.

"Ja, ja, let's just get him to Ivan," another, deeper voice said in a thick, German accent.

"Let me go!" Arthur yelled and tried even harder to get out of the only tightening grip.

"Ivan made him out to be a lot stronger," a new, Spanish voice laughed and Arthur gritted his teeth.

"I think it was Alfred who was the strong one," the one at his feet laughed. Arthur tried to steady his breathing as he closed his eyes. He wanted to at least see his attackers before he was killed or…worse. He focused on turning the lights on and couldn't help but smile when he heard the others wince and he saw light beyond his eyelids. Arthur felt an overwhelming feeling of fatigue overcome him again at the use of magic, but he had to just suck it up.

He opened his eyes to see that they had stopped right in front of a grand staircase that had quite a few missing pieces. Above them was a chandelier filled with cobwebs that had bulbs lighting the area around them. The windows finally allowed in light and Arthur immediately looked to his kidnappers.

At his feet was an albino with shining white hair and beady red eyes. He had a cocky air about him and had a smirk as he looked to the other two. Arthur looked to his right and found a rather tall and muscular man with slicked back blonde hair and cold, blue eyes. He looked very serious, only glaring at the albino. The one on his left had shaggy brown hair and bright green eyes and was very tan. He seemed…frankly, like a bit of a dunce.

The one on his left said something in Spanish that let on that he was rather amazed as he looked up around them.

"And over the curse, too, huh?" the albino whistled. "Almost as awesome as myself."

"We should keep moving," the one on Arthur's right, the German, stated.

Once again, they started walking, and right up the stairs. Arthur once again started to try to escape their grasp. He repeatedly tried to come up with something using his magic to get out of it, but he was either too tired or too panicked to try.

"Maybe you should have tried getting out before turning on the lights," the Spaniard laughed happily and Arthur scoffed, giving up. He would have to figure out which fairy tale this was to find a way out of it, and the best way to do that was to just go along with it.

"Giving up already, huh?" the albino smirked. "Guess that makes Ivan's life easier."

"Can you tell me what the hell Ivan wants from me?" Arthur snapped.

"You have to be the one to figure it out," the albino smirked. They finished climbing the stairs and Arthur was carried to a door, probably the only one around that was still on its hinges. This house was proving to be very odd. It looked old enough to be maybe over a hundred years old, but it had things like light switches and light bulbs. What was going on here?

"Set him down," the German stated and the albino dropped Arthur's feet to the floor. It took Arthur a short while to regain his balance as the albino opened up the door with a large creak. Inside the room was a startling contrast to the rest of the house. Fully furnished with a bed, dresser, desk, carpet, lamps, a new, clean window and even the wood was shining and new in comparison to the rest of the house.

What set Arthur the most at unease, though, was the man standing at the window with his back to them, looking down through the window.

"Ivan," Arthur muttered as he was basically shoved into the room, his arms still being held tightly on either side of him.

"It is funny to see the others try to get in when they can't," Ivan giggled, not even moving.

"Do you want us to get rid of them for you?" the albino asked.

"That won't be necessary," Ivan chimed happily and turned around to face Arthur. "It has not even been a day and you have already changed so much, Arthur."

"What the hell do you even want from me?" Arthur demanded, trying a little bit to get out of the grip of the Spaniard and the German.

"What do you think I want?" Ivan asked happily.

"I am just trying to figure out who you even are," Arthur glared at him. "First you say you want me dead and even try to have me killed, but then I meet two people who claim you're a nice man. One of them even claims you want to keep me alive."

"Peter needs to learn to quit while he is ahead, da?" Ivan chuckled. "He is interesting, though. There should only be two people in the world at once that can use magic. But he can."

"Do you just keep him around because he's interesting?" Arthur asked.

"Move him further into the room," Ivan said to the two on Arthur's sides. "The others will be coming up soon."

"Were you the one who sent out that wolf?" Arthur asked as he was dragged over, next to the bed.

"Nyet," Ivan hummed. "I know what it is, but it is not my problem."

"So you help people like Elizaveta and Peter, but you don't bother with the city that could be harmed by that damn thing?" Arthur demanded.

"There are complications," Ivan stated, his smile not faltering once.

"So what fairytale is this, then?" Arthur asked, deciding to change the subject since this wasn't getting anywhere.

"You tell me," Ivan smiled. "An old mansion with a scary man that you envision as a monster."

"Beauty and the Beast?" Arthur scoffed. "And are these three your servants?"

"Well, they are not under their own control," Ivan smirked and walked over to the albino, who was staying surprisingly quiet, considering his personality from before. "Which is nice around this one."

"Yet Elizaveta and Peter aren't under your control?" Arthur asked.

"They were the ones to say so," Ivan smiled. "It is up to you to decide if they are under their own control."

"What about Natalia and Katyushka?" Arthur asked and Ivan's smile faltered slightly.

"They are on their own," Ivan smiled, but it seemed more nostalgic than anything else. "And I thank you for not trying to kill them, otherwise this would have ended a lot more quickly."

"Why are you so protective over them?" Arthur asked, thoroughly confused.

"It is none of your business, da?" Ivan raised an eyebrow.

Beyond the open door of the room, Arthur could hear a massive crash below them that sounded like splintering wood.

"They are so destructive," Ivan laughed and turned to the albino. "Greet our guests."

"Sure," Gilbert shrugged and left the room.

"So, why are they your puppets?" Arthur asked. "Did they strike a deal with you like Alfred?"

"They have their own hearts, if that is what you are wondering," Ivan stated. "I am simply using them to assist me. In compensation, they will be given something they want."

"So everything is fair, is that it?" Arthur asked.

"For the first time, Arthur is the one in trouble," Francis chimed happily from the door, but Arthur didn't move his eyes away from Ivan, almost in fear of him doing something and being unprepared for it.

"Let him go," Matthew said breathlessly, as if he had just ran up the stairs.

"Everyone came to get you, even Fredka," Ivan smiled, turning to the others. "Privet."

"Let him go," Alfred stated.

"You have come a long way, too," Ivan smiled.

"What are you up to?" Francis asked.

"That's what I've been trying to find out," Arthur muttered.

"I'm sure if you didn't have the curse on you," Ivan smirked, walking up to Arthur and cupping his chin to look up at him, in the eyes, "you could figure it all out in just a few hours. But that is part of the fun, da?"

"S-Stop messing with him," Matthew stated and Ivan glanced at them for a short second. Arthur looked with him and found that the three of them seemed rooted to the spot, trying to move their feet but unable.

"I do not think you are in a position to tell me that," Ivan smiled.

"What is the point of this challenge, then?" Arthur asked. "Every one of them has had to do with me using magic."

"And it seems you failed the last one," Ivan sighed, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "I had hoped I would not have had to interfere, but I really did have to. How sad. We still just have to work on using your magic while under stress."

"Magic becomes rather hard when I have no idea what I am doing," Arthur retorted.

"That is not my fault, now, is it?" Ivan hummed. "From what I can tell, I am only helping you figure it out."

"By nearly killing me each time," Arthur stated.

"Every plan has its pros and cons," Ivan shrugged. "As does everything in life."

"When did you start giving me life advice?" Arthur asked.

"When I struck the deal you forgot," Ivan smiled.

"Is that supposed to be a hint as to what you're doing?" Arthur asked.

"It won't be helping you much," Ivan stated.

"Francis knows the fairytale," Arthur stated.

"And what makes you think he will help you?" Ivan asked.

"F-Francis," Arthur looked over to his friends, who stood there with a similar expression to Alfred's. "What did you do to them?" Arthur turned to glare at Ivan once again.

"You should use your magic to break them free, da?" Ivan asked.

"You know full well I can hardly use my magic properly," Arthur stated.

"You used it just a moment ago, downstairs," Ivan chimed.

Arthur bit back any sort of retort he would have had and closed his eyes to try to think of something, anything he could do. He knew he would probably only be able to do one thing, considering how weak his magic was. And he had three options, from the way he saw it. He could free his friends for some help from that, but that wasn't likely because of Ivan's magic. He could free Ivan's puppets and they might prove to be useful, but again there was Ivan's magic. Then he could try to do something to Ivan, try to get him out of the way. But his magic was far more advanced and powerful than his own, especially at this time.

"You think very slowly," Ivan giggled. "Here, I will help you."

Arthur opened his eyes just in time to see Francis and Matthew shake their heads, as if they were snapping out of a trance.

"You are proving to be as useless as you were when I first met you," Ivan smirked.

"Arthur?" Francis asked, still sounding slightly dazed.

"Ivan didn't do anything while we were out, right?" Matthew asked.

"No, he didn't," Alfred stated.

"You should stop trying to hold us back," Francis stated.

Ivan let out a rather large laugh and Arthur jumped, quite startled by it.

"You want to see me trying?" Ivan giggled and looked at the two on Arthur's either side, who simply let him go. Arthur got a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him not to move as Ivan's expression suddenly turned dark. He held out his hand and some sort of red field appeared around Arthur's chest, engulfing his arms as well. It was tight and Arthur let out a small yelp of pain as he was lifted off of his feet. The field grew tighter around Arthur with what felt like each second.

Alfred took a small step forward.

"I could kill you very easily if I wanted to," Ivan chimed happily as Arthur yelled out again as the field felt tight enough to break something.

"Arthur," Alfred muttered. He felt…weird, but he knew he wasn't supposed to feel anything. It almost felt like he was worried. "Stop."

"Hm, true love," Ivan smiled and Arthur found that he could no longer suck in a breath, the field was so tight around him. He tried gasping for air, but none made it into his lungs. He tried to come up with something to do against Ivan, anything to save himself. "It is even trying to beat a fact. Your heart is gone from you, you will not get your emotions back until you get the heart back."

"Let him go," Alfred stated. Looking at Arthur and the panic in his face, the way he seemed to be desperately trying to suck in air…the fire that was starting to emit from him in streaks from all over his body.

"You do not want to kill him, do you?" Francis tried as Matthew marveled at the amount of fire Arthur really was creating in some effort to save himself.

"Nyet, but that does not mean I can't make him come close to death," Ivan smiled as Arthur began to twitch and his fire stopped. Arthur found his vision beginning to tunnel. He couldn't do anything now, he was at the hands of Ivan…

Just when Arthur was about to see nothing and probably go limp, he felt the grip around him lessen dramatically and he felt the ground under him. Immediately, he sucked in a deep breath. It hurt slightly and he winced, but he continued to breathe until his vision returned and he began to feel at least sort of normal.

"I do not see how you can use your magic in a time like this, but not when the wolf was about to attack you," Ivan sighed as the two behind Arthur picked him up once again by his arms. Arthur was slightly limp, considering both the magic and almost dying, and still gasping.

"I do not see…" Arthur muttered, "…how you…consider this…helping me…"

"You almost killed him," Alfred stated and Arthur looked up at him shakily.

"I'm fine," Arthur muttered.

"You do not look fine, mon ami," Francis shook his head.

"I'll get us…out of here," Arthur muttered, closing his eyes and Ivan smiled.

"How will you-" Matthew tried to speak, but he was cut off when Arthur suddenly opened his eyes and the four of them appeared in a completely different place outside.

"Impressive," Francis laughed slightly.

Arthur smiled slightly before his eyes closed and his legs underneath him gave way. Alfred, who had appeared outside close to him, easily caught him, getting a quick vision of a kid version of Arthur smiling at him.

"He must be tired," Matthew smiled slightly. "All of that magic at once, on top of Ivan nearly killing him."

"He made us come out in front of a hotel," Alfred noted, looking up at the title of the building next to them.

"Good," Francis yawned. "I am getting rather tired as well."

"Alfred, would you mind carrying him inside?" Matthew asked. "I don't think he'll be waking up any time soon."

"Sure," Alfred nodded, picking Arthur up bridal style.

"What will we do with Arthur?" Francis sighed, opening up the door to the window as Alfred looked up at the sky. "We cannot let him touch one of the beds, I cannot imagine what those must have been like all those years ago…"

Ivan must have manipulated the time around them, because it looked to be fully nighttime. The sky was filled with stars and…the moon.

* * *

**Kay, very, very big hints in this one. I almost gave a really big one, but I decided against that. No one's guess what Ivan's doing... Ah, well, I hope this did something. It wasn't much of Beauty and the Beast, I know that, but I couldn't think of anything that went with the plot of this chapter that actually fit it. And I'll get back to the weirdness of the mansion, too, by the way.**

**I updated early this week! Mainly because I felt really bad for making you guys wait so long for the last one...**

**And I have a question for you guys! So, my friends and I are going to be making our own Pokemon comic with our own original characters and plotline and everything. That will be uploaded on DeviantArt, while I'll be uploading the written version at the same time. My question for you is; would you want to read it? It will probably my main thing for quite some time, probably a couple years, since it's so long already. I will be writing other things with it, but it will be my main worry. So please tell me if you would want to read it so I know it'll be at least somewhat liked. Depending on the reaction, I may give you the summary next week to see what everyone has to say about it.**

**Please review! I'll wuv you fowever.**


	9. Pumpkin

Arthur woke up groggily the next day, only vaguely aware of the place he was in. He felt exhausted, but on top of that, something else was wrong. This was quickly confirmed as he started coughing and couldn't stop until he was nearly curled into himself.

"I think he is awake now," Francis' voice snickered.

"Stuff it, frog," Arthur grumbled, but found that his nose was stuffed up, so it didn't sound quite right.

"Are you sick or something?" Matthew's voice asked, sounding very concerned. Arthur cracked an eye open and found that both Matthew and Francis were standing next to him. He was on some sort of bed and they were in a room he had never seen before.

"Where are we?" Arthur asked, slowly sitting up to look around some more. He could see that there was another bed next to the one he was lying on and Alfred was sitting on the edge of that one, absently watching TV.

"You brought us to this hotel before you passed out," Matthew stated.

"You saved us from Ivan, I believe," Francis stated.

"And I can see what that did for me," Arthur muttered, sniffling in hopes of clearing his nose, but it did nothing.

"Would you rather be dead?" Alfred asked bluntly.

"Ivan proved a point back there," Arthur stated. "He won't kill me." Suddenly, Arthur let out a rather large sneeze.

"Bless you," Matthew muttered.

"Thank you," Arthur sighed.

"So, would this be another challenge, being sick?" Francis asked.

"Possibly," Arthur muttered. "There would have to be more to it, though."

"Then we should go outside," Alfred stated.

"What?" Matthew asked him. "Why?"

"It won't end until we do what he wants," Alfred shrugged. "So we should just get it over with quickly."

"He is right," Arthur muttered. "I don't want to be sick forever."

"There is really nothing else we can do," Francis muttered and Arthur swung his legs over the side of the bed, which he just realized looked a lot more vintage than it should have been. Arthur figured it must have been from him touching it.

"Will this hotel be mad about what's happened to the bed?" Arthur asked, slowly standing up and only feeling a little light-headed.

"You were originally supposed to sleep elsewhere," Francis sighed. "I would have much preferred a more comfortable bed than something form that time period, but Alfred simply dumped you on it."

"Nice to know you care that much about me," Arthur rolled his eyes and sneezed once again, but this one led to a long string of other sneezes and he had to lean against a nearby wall to make sure he didn't fall over.

"This may be a lot worse than we thought," Matthew muttered.

"It won't get better," Alfred sighed.

"You're just being impatient," Arthur sighed, shaking his head. "But you are right…"

"Then we should move out," Alfred stood up, turning off the TV.

"Just let me put on some shoes," Arthur groaned and quickly found his shoes, which must have been taken off at some point, near the door. He hardly had time to put them on before Alfred was dragging him out of the room.

"I will catch up with you in just a moment," Francis chimed as his phone started ringing. Looking at the caller ID, however, he was very confused. It was one of the Kirkland brothers…He hadn't talk to one of those since they were in Asia…

Arthur huffed, but that was cut short by a cough as he was shoved into the elevator. Upon touching Alfred, he got an image of some sort of village that he only vaguely recognized.

"You do not have to drag me," Arthur snapped as he pulled out of Alfred's grip and the elevator doors closed.

"I'm tired of being stuck indoors," Alfred muttered.

"You seem to be a lot more emotional since when I first met you," Arthur noted, sneezing once. "Is it because we're getting closer to your heart?"

"Probably," Alfred shrugged.

"You are not helpful at all," Arthur rolled his eyes, letting out a small cough.

"You probably won't be either with that sickness," Alfred shrugged.

"Thank you, Alfred," Arthur sighed as the elevator opened up onto the ground floor. Arthur simply strode out and quickly went to the front door through the lobby. Thankfully, the doorman opened the door for him and Arthur went to lean against the wall of the outside of the hotel, feeling very dizzy.

"You going to be alright?" Alfred asked.

"Fine," Arthur muttered, shaking his head in hopes to get rid of the feeling.

"Found 'im!" a very familiar voice shouted and Arthur's eyes widened. He immediately looked into the street where he heard it and got a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was a very sleek, black car sitting in front of the hotel, parked on the side of the street. And out of it came Arthur's brothers.

"No," Arthur shook his head. "Not now…"

"Who are these people?" Alfred asked.

"My brothers," Arthur muttered as Scott stormed in front of him, making Arthur feel rather small.

"Finally found ya," Scott smirked.

"Scott," Arthur sighed. "This is not a good time for this."

"I think it's a perfect time!" Connor chimed in happily. "You're comin' home."

"I don't think that's a very good idea," Arthur muttered, glancing at the fancy car as Ian popped up, too.

"You've ran away for long enough, now it's time to come home," Ian stated.

"You don't want to do that," Alfred stated and the three brothers all turned to study this "newcomer."

"And why not?" Scott challenged him.

"Arthur!" Francis burst out of the hotel and Arthur sunk against the wall more, letting out a cough. "Oh, you are already here."

"You knew they were coming?" Arthur asked.

"He's been telling us what you've been up to," Ian said.

"Has he?" Arthur muttered, letting out a small sneezing fit.

"Let's just get him home," Connor sighed.

"Aye, he won't be able to fight back much if he's this sick," Scott smirked.

"I am not leaving," Arthur glared at them. He knew he could probably think of something to get him out of this…magic, probably… And he highly doubted Ivan would let him leave, considering all he'd done against them.

"Y-You really shouldn't," Matthew muttered as Connor and Scott grabbed hold of Arthur's arms and started pulling him towards the car.

"You really don't want me to go anywhere near that car," Arthur warned, trying in vain to fight against the two.

"Why not?" Ian laughed.

"Well, if you would listen to me for once in your lives…" Arthur muttered darkly.

"We'll listen to ya all the way home," Scott said happily.

"I doubt you'll even get to the airport," Alfred stated.

"You that sure?" Connor asked as Arthur was shoved at the car. Thinking quickly, Arthur thrust his hands out so that he held onto the edges of the open car door to stop himself from actually going in.

He felt a massive drain of energy and even some pain as he yelled out and stumbled backwards before crumbling onto the ground.

"What?" Ian gasped.

"Bloody hell," Scott muttered.

"How did he…?" Connor asked.

"Move out of my way," Alfred sighed and Arthur noticed him kneel down in front of him. "Are you okay?"

"Why do you care?" Arthur muttered, the fatigue making him feel very close to sleep.

"Oi, someone tell me what the hell is going on!" Scott demanded.

"Well, there has been some…complications," Francis sighed. "You see, there was this wizard and then quite a lot of fairytales-"

"How about a real explanation?" Connor asked.

"You were the one who just saw a car turn into a carriage," Matthew stated. "I would say that it makes quite a lot of sense."

"Maybe we should go inside for this little chat?" Arthur muttered. "Before I fall asleep on the concrete?"

"I'd imagine you would be tired after all of that," Francis muttered.

"It is the largest thing you've turned…" Matthew stated.

"Let's go inside," Alfred stated and, before Arthur could even blink, Alfred had picked him up bridal style and started walking towards the hotel.

"Ya expect me to just follow ya inside?" Scott scoffed.

"From what I have learned," Francis sighed, "near Arthur is the safest place you can be. I am going to follow them, and if you want to know what is going on, you should follow as well."

"Why the bloody hell do you have to pick me up like this!" Arthur snapped, finally overcoming the shock of actually being picked up. He even got an image of a purple moon.

"It's the easiest way to carry you," Alfred shrugged, walking ahead of the rest and already at the elevator.

"Why do you have to be so bloody blunt?" Arthur groaned, rolling his eyes.

"He seems pretty damn fond of Arthur," Connor noted behind them.

"A lot can happen in a day," Matthew smiled.

"You know, you could put me down now," Arthur snapped. "I'm fairly sure I'm over that weak spell."

"But you're not completely sure," Alfred stated.

"Since when do you actually care?" Arthur retorted.

"Yeah, they get along really well," Ian scoffed.

"Do you think this is something Ivan planned?" Alfred asked as the elevator door opened and everyone shuffled in. Arthur started trying to get himself out of Alfred's grip, but it wasn't working and only led to him letting out a long string of coughs.

"Ivan?" Scott, Ian, and Connor asked at the same time.

"Have you heard of an Ivan?" Francis asked.

"The name sounds familiar," Scott sighed.

"If you've known where I've been this whole time, why did you choose now, of all times, to come and fetch me?" Arthur huffed.

"We just decided to, I guess," Ian shrugged.

"I take it that means Ivan must have had something to do with it," Matthew muttered.

"Who the hell is this Ivan?" Scott demanded just as the elevator door opened to what Arthur assumed was their level because Alfred stepped off and started walking. Arthur sneezed.

"We will tell you once we are in our room," Francis stated. "There are a lot of people that would think we were crazy from our story."

"Well, I already think I'm crazy," Ian rubbed the back of his head as Alfred stopped in front of a door, which Arthur assumed was to their room. "Considering what I saw outside."

"I've seen weirder," Matthew laughed and opened the door for Alfred, who quickly stepped into the room.

"Now we're inside," Arthur sighed. "So will you set me down?!"

"Just don't try to move too much," Alfred stated, setting Arthur down on the bed in a lying position.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Arthur rolled his eyes, letting out a small coughing fit as he sat upright.

"So, tell us," Connor sighed. He was one of the last to come into the door and closed it.

"Well, there is a fairytale," Francis stated, sitting on the end of the bed Arthur was already sitting on. Alfred was standing protectively next to him and Matthew sat on the other bed. The three Kirkland brothers stood around the door. "It includes a wizard who is working to find his apprentice."

Francis told the story, the three brothers listening intently. The other three, who felt like they had heard the story countless times before, simply tuned it out. Alfred even left Arthur's side for a short while to get a remote and turn the television on.

"Artie has magic?" Scott laughed at some point during the story and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I don't know how you expect me to believe that," Connor scoffed.

Arthur let out a sigh and held out his hand. Considering fire had proved to be easy when he was being choked, Arthur decided to give that a try. He took a deep breath and focused on creating at least a small flame in his hand. He felt a familiar small drain and saw a flame, about the size of his palm, appear in his hand. Sadly, the brothers were too busy being skeptics to notice.

Arthur simply rolled his eyes and tossed the flame in their general direction. It was nowhere near big enough to hurt anyone seriously, as long as they acted quickly. Luckily for him, it landed in Scott's hair and the three of them immediately started freaking out and trying to get it out.

"What the bloody hell?!" Scott glared at Arthur as he successfully patted the flame out.

"You were the ones asking for proof," Arthur shrugged and sneezed.

"It didn't take much out of you, did it?" Alfred asked.

"Why are you hovering over me so much?" Arthur asked as Francis returned to the story now that the three had at least some form of confirmation.

"I don't know," Alfred shrugged easily. "I just am."

"Is it Ivan giving you another emotion?" Arthur asked. It probably couldn't be Ivan, because this had no way of making his life difficult…

"No," Alfred shook his head. "I know what it feels like when he's messing with my emotions. This isn't it."

"I guess you could blame what happened last night," Matthew shrugged. "Alfred did react a lot more than he should have when he saw you near death."

"Just don't get too ahead of yourself," Arthur sighed. "Ivan may want to use it to his advantage. Just because you can't feel doesn't mean you can't get injured."

"So, wait, he has no heart?" Ian gasped and Arthur turned his attention back to him.

"We think Ivan has it," Arthur said and coughed twice.

"So, what does Ivan want from you?" Connor asked.

"Who knows?" Francis sighed.

"At first he said we were for fun, just to mess with," Matthew stated, still staring at the television. "But we've been getting mixed information about him."

"There is also no way for us to know if a person is being controlled by him," Arthur stated. "His magic is powerful and he's working hard to make sure I can hardly use mine."

"Aright, then," Scott sighed, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms over his chest. "I guess I can believe this fairytale thing. There's way too many coincidences for me not to believe it. I do have one last question, though. Art, what the hell do you mean by almost getting killed?"

"You heard what they were talking about?" Ian asked.

"Almost killed?" Connor asked.

"Ivan told me flat out that he won't kill me," Arthur scoffed. "He was just proving a point."

"So tell me what happened if it's not that big of a deal," Scott demanded.

"He deprived me of air until I nearly passed out," Arthur stated.

"He did what?" Ian's eyes widened.

"Don't forget the wolf," Alfred stated.

"And the witches from Hansel and Gretel," Matthew offered.

"And the apples," Francis chimed.

"How many times, exactly, have you almost died?" Connor asked.

"Just yesterday?" Arthur smirked, raising his eyebrow. "Or the whole time I've been away from you?"

"Dammit, Arthur!" Scott stormed over to him and Arthur sneezed. "And you wonder why we didn't want you to go off on your own! It's dangerous out there!"

"And how did you expect me to be able to take care of myself once I grew up?" Arthur asked. "I can't stay your little brother forever."

"It is just like in the fairytale, non?" Francis snickered.

"Butt out of this, frog!" Arthur snapped. He let out a long string of sneezes after that and Alfred gently tried to calm him down, but that only caused another vision.

This one was different than the other ones, though. Rather than just being a quick flash of some image Arthur had to work hard to remember, he actually felt like his mind was placed into a different body.

He was smaller than before, the size of a child, probably. He was in a dark forest, following a boy in front of him. Arthur found that he couldn't control what his body was doing, so he was forced to just run with the other boy. Said boy finally stopped next to a tree and looked back at Arthur to flash a large smile and Arthur couldn't believe his eyes. It was Alfred… But he was actually happy.

He seemed to be teasing him, but Arthur couldn't hear anything. Alfred continued to talk, seeming to be chatting up a storm. After a while, Arthur looked up at the moon, only to find that it was purple. For some reason, this put him on edge and he fought to gain Alfred's attention once again.

When he did, though, Alfred seemed nearly frozen in fear. They quickly started running back through the forest, but Arthur was picked up roughly.

"Arthur!" someone was yelling and Arthur could have sworn he had heard Alfred's voice. "Arthur!" Hearing it again made Arthur realize that it was someone else.

"Snap out of it!" Arthur felt something slam into the back of his head and Arthur found himself back in the hotel room.

"What happened?" Alfred asked and Arthur suddenly felt very dizzy and tired.

"I don't…" Arthur muttered, his eyelids feeling very heavy. "I don't know…"

With that, Arthur closed his eyes and went limp, falling into Alfred's quick arms.

"Arthur?" Alfred asked, feeling…something. He had no idea what this feeling was, but it was very weird. He'd been feeling it all day and even yesterday, but he knew he wasn't supposed to feel.

"What did you do to him?" Ian asked.

"I did nothing," Alfred stated, putting one hand a couple inches over Arthur's mouth to make sure he was still breathing and then set him down, happy that he was alive.

"You touched him and then he just started zoning out," Connor said. "Obviously you did something."

"I do not think it was intentional," Francis stated. "According to the fairytale, they are in true love, which is a magic in its own. A magic that I'm sure could counteract whatever Ivan is doing."

"Alfred, did you get anything from that?" Matthew asked.

"Just a vision," Alfred shook his head. "Of a man in shadows picking up a little Arthur."

"So what happened to him?" Ian asked.

"I'm sure it has something to do with that Ivan," Connor muttered.

"Alfred, right?" Scott asked, looking right at Alfred.

"Yes," Alfred nodded.

"I trust you with my brother," Scott stated and Ian and Connor looked to him.

"Yeah, I do, too," Ivan smiled, nodding.

"Me, too," Connor smirked.

"So you better keep him safe," Scott stated, but to everyone else in the room, it sounded more like a threat.

"I will," Alfred nodded. "Even if it kills me."

* * *

**Oh, Alfred's emotion... I figured I might as well give him one, considering all I've had to put him through, and it's the perfect one for Alfred, even if he is supposed to be emotionless; protectiveness! And Arthur's brothers are here! But what is this about Francis talking to them? We'll find out next chapter!**

**Also, someone finally gave the right answer to what Ivan is doing! I'm not telling you who, because you'll have to find out on your own, but the person who answered right knows. Do keep trying, though, some of you were really close with your predictions!**

**And some people said that they were curious about the Pokemon story my friends and I are making, so I'll give you the summary!  
Pokemon Legends: **The Legendary Pokemon of old have chosen a select few to bond with. These trainers are destined to save the world and prevent a take-over from the evil Team Legends that plants to control all of the Legendary Pokemon. Are they ready? Mostly original characters with a few oldies!

**Please review!**


	10. Wish

When Arthur finally woke up again, he felt fairly normal, it not still a little stuffed up. He looked around the room and found it mostly empty, except for Alfred, who was sitting on the bed next to him, watching the television.

"Where did everyone else go?" Arthur mumbled, slowly sitting upright.

"You're awake," Alfred looked back at him.

"Yes, I can see that," Arthur nodded, sniffling slightly. "Now please tell me where everyone else has gone off to."

"There's a café nearby, they went there," Alfred stated and Arthur felt his stomach growl. Come to think of it…he hadn't eaten at all since yesterday. Maybe he should have stolen some food from that cottage…

"We should follow them, then," Arthur sighed, moving to stand up. He felt a little light-headed, but he could deal with it.

"You sure you're ready to move?" Alfred stood up with him, turning off the television.

"Yes, I believe I am fine," Arthur stated. "Why did you stay here with me? I assume Matthew probably wanted you to go with them to eat."

"I don't feel hungry," Alfred shrugged. "And I knew you would, so you would bring me to get food."

"Alright, then," Arthur sighed and started for the door of the hotel room. "So I take it that your protective emotions are becoming permanent?"

"I think so," Alfred nodded, following him out, into the hallway.

"Lovely," Arthur sighed. Last thing he needed was Alfred to start carrying him everywhere every time he got a scrape. Ivan would probably use it to his advantage as well, and that was not likely to end well at all. "Are my brothers still here?"

"They're the ones paying for lunch," Alfred stated as they came up to the elevator. Arthur pressed the button, sniffling once again. "They said they wanted to give us something, but they hadn't decided on it yet."

"How long was I asleep?" Arthur asked.

"Just three hours," Alfred shrugged.

"Just…" Arthur sighed, shaking his head. The elevator came up to their floor and opened, but there were other people inside, so the two of them moved out of the way. Out of it came three people that Arthur knew he remembered from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place it. One of them was carrying a rather large trunk. Arthur looked after them as they walked down the hallway.

"Arthur," Alfred brought his attention back to him and he found that he was already standing in the elevator. Arthur nodded and walked into the elevator just before the doors closed.

"Did those three look familiar to you?" Arthur asked.

"What three?" Alfred blinked.

"You are not helpful at all," Arthur sniffled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Are you still sick?" Alfred asked.

"Not very," Arthur shrugged. "It probably won't last for long."

"Why do you think Ivan made you sick?" Alfred asked.

"Who knows," Arthur muttered. "Maybe just to see what would happen or to make me even more vulnerable to my brothers."

"Do you like your brothers?" Alfred asked.

"Since when are you this curious?" Arthur asked.

"Since now," Alfred stated.

"I have to say I liked you a little better without your emotions," Arthur sighed. "And my relationship with my brothers is complicated. I can't say I love them, like I should love my family. But I can't say I hate them."

"In Francis' story, your brothers loved you a lot," Alfred noted as the elevator door finally opened on the bottom floor and the two stepped out.

"Perhaps they did," Arthur muttered and walked towards the front door. "You will have to guide me to this café."

"It's right across the street," Alfred stated and started walking towards the street.

"Alfred," Arthur sighed, following him closely behind. "You do know you can't just walk into the middle of a street, right?"

"I won't get hurt," Alfred shrugged.

"You may not feel the hurt, but you will be injured," Arthur sighed, grabbing onto Alfred's wrist and pulling him back, away from the street. "We will find an intersection and then we will cross to get to them."

"Fine," Alfred shrugged and Arthur started walking to the right, where he could see an intersection with a crosswalk. It was odd, though. He had touched Alfred, but he didn't get a vision.

They walked in silence as the other people rushed by to get about their day and Arthur sighed. There was no way to know when Ivan would try to go after them again. He figured his brothers were one of Ivan's "challenges" for him to go through. Looking up at the sky, Arthur could see that the sun was setting, so that meant he must have slept in later than he thought earlier today.

Once they got to the intersection, Arthur had to hold Alfred's hand to ensure that he didn't try just simply walking across the crosswalk before the light turned. Eventually, the light did turn and Arthur and Alfred walked across with several other people, still holding hands. Arthur was sure Alfred didn't notice it in the slightest, but Arthur found that he rather liked it. Now that he wasn't getting a vision, he was actually able to notice what was going on. He smiled slightly. Maybe that stupid fairytale was right, maybe he was in love with Alfred, even though he had no emotions.

"Oh, so you two are holding hands now?" Francis' voice snickered and Arthur immediately blushed, snatching his hand back and pulling it close to him. He hadn't noticed until then, but they were at the café, which had a gated, outdoor area.

"Sod off, cheesy monkey," Arthur snapped at him. He found that they were all sitting at a round table, crowding chairs to fit all at once. There were even two empty chairs there, probably for Arthur and Alfred.

"I see you're still as cheery as ever," Ian laughed and Arthur noticed their empty plates.

"We would have ordered you something," Matthew offered.

"But we weren't sure if ya weren't gonna be too busy making out with yer boyfriend to eat," Scott smirked.

"Oh, shut up," Arthur rolled his eyes and entered through the gate of the gated area to sit with them. His blush, though, was getting rather hard to hide.

"Boyfriend?" Alfred asked behind him.

"Don't you even start thinking about it," Arthur glared at him before sitting down next to Matthew in a huff. The two empty seats were in-between Matthew and Scott and Arthur sure as hell wasn't sitting next to Scott.

This was quickly proved wrong as Scott wrapped his arm around Arthur's shoulders and yanked him into the other seat.

"Oh, no ye don't," Scott laughed, hugging Arthur close to him and giving him a noogie. "You've been gone for a long time and I've got some catchin' up to do, right?"

"Would you quit that?!" Arthur tried to move his hand away, but that only wound up with him being forced into a headlock that he tried furiously to get out of.

"One of us would be sitting next to you, too," Connor shrugged. "But we figured you'd want to sit with your boyfriend."

"Would you quit calling him that?" Arthur sighed, giving up. It was then, though, that he remembered he did have some magic. So, with a smirk, he focused on heating up his hand and pressed it onto Scott's arm.

"Bloody hell!" Scott yelled, releasing his grip to nurse his new burn.

"This may work out better than I expected," Arthur smiled, flexing his hand and righting himself in the seat.

"Arthur," Matthew looked to him. "If you want, I could go get you something to eat."

"I could go get it myself," Arthur shook his head and moved to stand up, but Scott yanked him back down into his seat.

"Not so fast," Scott smirked, over his burn rather quickly. "I never said ye could leave."

"I'll go with Mattie," Alfred stood up.

"You called me Mattie…" Matthew smiled and stood up as well.

"Let them have their brother time!" Ian smiled and got up to walk behind Arthur. "We need ours!"

"Plus Francis," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Since you like fire so much," Scott said, pulling out a cigarette from a box in his pocket, "how about you give me a light."

Arthur simply flicked a small flame onto his head. "Smoking will kill you," Arthur sighed.

"No quicker than you will," Connor laughed as Scott tried to pat his hair out.

"It seems that you are getting used to using magic now," Francis snickered.

"Practice makes perfect, I guess," Arthur muttered.

"What else can you do?" Ian asked excitedly. "Can you make flowers or pull rabbits out of hats?"

"I don't know," Arthur sighed. "I've only been using magic for about a day."

"And most of it has been life-or-death situations," Francis said, examining his nails.

"You say it so calmly," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Well, what else have you been able to do?" Connor asked.

"I was able to turn a few lights on," Arthur shrugged. "And there was the time in the cottage, but I have no idea what I did there."

"And he turned our car into a carriage," Scott stated.

"I do hope mum and dad can get you a new one sometime soon," Arthur smirked.

"We are getting off topic," Francis chimed in before Scott could retort. "You were saying something about gifts?"

"Gifts?" Arthur looked to his brother, an amused smirk on his face. Scott was never one to give gifts to people, even on special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. "You?"

"Aye, me," Scott glared at him. "I would give you one, too, but you keep lightin' my hair on fire!"

"It matches the color," Arthur shrugged.

"Here's food," Matthew chimed happily and Arthur remembered just how hungry he was. Matthew put a plate that had some sort of sandwich on it, but Arthur couldn't really care less what it was as he started eating.

"Jeez, do they feed you?" Connor asked.

"We hadn't really eaten since yesterday," Matthew shrugged. "Morning."

Alfred sat down next to Arthur, with practically the same thing and started eating, quite a lot slower than Arthur was.

"You were saying about these gifts?" Francis asked.

"Right!" Ian chimed, sitting back down. "For taking care of our little brother, we wanna give you three a gift!"

"It can be anything you want, the Kirkland family is pretty rich," Connor shrugged.

"And you're not giving me anything?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"We've been paying for everything you've been doing away," Scott shrugged, finally pulling out a lighter and lighting his cigarette.

"You've been paying?" Arthur asked and looked to Francis. "You told me that it was your family."

"My family is only moderately wealthy," Francis shrugged.

"So you've been lying to me as well as spying on me for my brothers?" Arthur asked, starting to feel anger well up inside him.

"Hey, we didn't chose this frog," Connor shrugged.

"We had someone else spying on you," Ian stated.

"When he saw you make a friend, though, we decided to use him," Scott stated, flicking his ashes onto Arthur's head.

"And you've paid him the whole time," Arthur stated and turned to Francis. "So travelling with me was just a job for you?"

"I admit, touring the world was rather fun, too," Francis shrugged.

"You little…" Arthur glared at him and next to him, Scott yelled out in pain.

"Look where you're aiming that fire," Scott sighed, "you burnt through my entire cigarette."

"Good," Arthur grumbled and sat back in his chair, shoving the plate away from him. He wasn't hungry any more.

"Anyway…" Ian sighed. "What would you guys want?"

"I've never really been asked what I want before…" Matthew muttered.

"I could do with a nice car after all this is over," Francis said happily and Arthur rolled his eyes. Of course he'd only think about something stupid like that.

The three oldest Kirkland brothers looked to each other, almost like they were discussing with their eyes.

"Alright," Scott sighed. "That'll take a bit, but you'll get it eventually."

"Wow, really?" Matthew mused.

"Of course," Arthur muttered. "Why the hell not?"

"Could I ask for a hockey stick?" Matthew asked.

"Just a hockey stick?" Connor asked. Matthew nodded.

"Nothing else?" Ian asked. Matthew nodded again.

"Hockey stick it is," Scott nodded, apparently happy with the idea of not spending much after Francis. "What about you, then?" he nodded to Alfred.

"What do I want?" Alfred asked himself and looked to Arthur, who was still sulking. "I want…an apology."

"What?" Scott asked and Arthur looked up at him with a confused look.

"Yeah," Alfred nodded slowly. "I want you to apologize to Arthur."

"Um, why?" Ian asked.

"Did you not see the way he reacted to you paying Francis?" Alfred asked.

"I thought Arthur was just normally like that," Connor shrugged.

"Well, that one I can give right now!" Scott yelled proudly, pulling Arthur into another side hug.

"Get the hell off of me!" Arthur demanded.

"Aw, ye know I was just bein' protective," Scott laughed.

"Family hug!" Ian chimed and Arthur felt another person hug him from behind.

"Dear God, you all have gotten fat," Arthur retorted as Connor joined the hug as well.

"Oi!" Scott lightly smacked him on the head. "Maybe I deserve this apology."

"Apology my arse," Arthur rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile. This was probably the nicest his brothers have ever been to him his whole life, since Scott found him on the street.

"Aw, you know you love it," Connor laughed.

"I would probably enjoy it more if my internal organs were not being crushed," Arthur noted and the weight on him did lift off.

"Ye forgive us now, right?" Scott asked, the only one who had yet to let go.

"Yes, I do," Arthur smiled and Scott cheered, pulling away to pull out another cigarette.

"And, Arthur," Francis stated as Arthur flicked a small flame to light the cigarette just as Scott reached to get his lighter. "I want you to know that I was your friend before I was paid."

"Thank you, then," Arthur nodded to him.

"First wish granted!" Ian cheered. "Only two more to go!"

Arthur moved to start eating his sandwich again and actually got rather far as the table around him continued to talk about random things. The happy air, however, was cut jaggedly by a knife as someone screamed. The group immediately stood up and turned to the street, where the scream was heard. Several more people started screaming and Arthur could barely see people run by under the quickly falling sun.

"What is going on?" Arthur muttered and looked down the street, the direction where people were running from. He saw a vague shape making its way quickly towards them and Arthur could only see that it was the wolf from the forest right before it came down their street and he stumbled backwards, into Scott who was just behind him.

"What the hell is that?" Ian gaped.

"The wolf," Arthur muttered.

"That is what it looked like?" Francis marveled.

"It got bigger," Alfred noted.

"Everyone else can see it now?" Arthur asked, looking back at the group.

"It was terrifying," Matthew nodded.

"I don't think that's a good sign," Arthur muttered and immediately went to the gate to go after it.

"I would not simply charge into action, if I were you," Ivan's voice sighed. Arthur looked around for where he was, but found nothing. When he looked straight ahead, however, Ivan was standing right there.

"Watch out," Alfred warned and pulled Arthur back.

"Aren't you happy I got rid of those pesky images?" Ivan smirked.

"What were you saying, Ivan?" Arthur asked.

"That's Ivan?" Scott whispered behind them.

"That'd be a scary sight to run into in an ally," Ian shrugged.

"There is someone who is waiting for you," Ivan smiled. "He's hoping you could be his hero."

"Who?" Arthur asked.

"Just know someone you know has been kidnapped," Ivan sighed, sounding disinterested. "And he will not last as long as this wolf will."

"You would kill him?" Arthur asked, trying to run through his head who this could be.

"If you do not get there fast enough," Ivan shrugged and turned around, in the direction the wolf went. "He says you will rescue him. He lived as a liar, he might as well die as one."

"Peter?" Arthur felt himself freeze.

"You kidnapped Peter?" Matthew gasped.

"He offered, da?" Ivan chimed, glancing behind him as he started walking. "But he is not you, Arthur. So I have to qualm with killing him."

"You bastard," Arthur growled at him and, without his control, a burst of fire shot right towards Ivan.

"You are getting better," Ivan noted, easily catching the fire in his hand and moving it through his fingers. "Not good enough, however. Good luck."

With that, he disappeared into the night.

* * *

**What is this? I'm updating early? This is what happens when I'm out of school. I have nothing better to do than write. Even while I'm in Florida. The beach has never really been my favorite place… So, while I'm ignoring my burnt feet, I've decided to update this! Most of this chapter was meant to be filler and comic relief, but then I had to put a little bit of suspense there at the end or no one would be interested, right?**

**What will happen to Peter? Will the wolf kill the entire town? You'll only find out when I update next and who knows when that'll be! It'll definitely be within a week, I swear!**

**Please review!**


	11. Named

"I have to go help Peter," Arthur turned to the others.

"And what about the bloody wolf?" Scott demanded.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone can take that thing," Ian stared off at where the wolf had gone off to. "But you have magic and you can."

"The boy could die," Arthur stated.

"So will the rest of this town," Francis stated.

"Then what's the point in arguing?" Arthur sighed. "I can just hurry."

"What is there about this kid that makes you like him so much?" Connor asked.

"Because he's just like me," Arthur stated.

"I'll go with Arthur," Alfred stated. "Make sure he doesn't get hurt."

"We could try to just distract the wolf," Matthew offered.

"And die trying?" Francis raised an eyebrow.

"Just…do what you have to," Arthur sighed and started running. He had a fair idea in his mind where Peter may be, those people he saw with the trunk starting to become familiar in his mind. They were those three men under the control of Ivan. He knew full well that there would be no cars on the street with the wolf on the lose so he simply ran across the street to get to the hotel quicker.

"What did you say about not going into the street?" Alfred asked.

"Don't be smug," Arthur gave him a swift glare before turning back to the hotel. Apparently, multiple people had taken refuge inside, so there was a rather large crowd inside Arthur had to shove through to try to get to the elevator. By the time he got there, he had to let out a groan at the sight of the "OUT OF ORDER" sign resting on the closed doors.

"There are stairs," Alfred stated and grabbed onto Arthur's wrist, pulling him to the right.

"What floor are we on?" Arthur asked. He had yet to actually pay attention to where their room was.

"Fifth," Alfred reported.

"Good," Arthur nodded. It wouldn't be too bad of a run up the stairs. Just as Alfred opened up the door to the stairs, a couple of fairies flew out. Arthur nodded to them before running up the stairs

"He _can_ see us again," one of the fairies gasped.

"You know where Peter is, right?" another one asked.

"Not the room," Arthur panted, turning with the stairs.

"511," the fairies said at the same time and Arthur nodded.

"You guys should help with the wolf," Alfred stated.

"He's acting up again…" the fairies looked at each other. "We'll see what we can do."

Arthur nodded to them as they flew off and he continued to the fifth floor. Arthur couldn't help but wonder about how the fairies knew about the wolf, but it seemed like they knew about him, so they should be able to help at least stall it. Arthur had no idea how he was going to even try to take on the wolf, considering what happened last time. Come to think of it, he had no idea if he was even going to be able to save Peter…

Alfred reached out and held onto Arthur's hand, as if to reassure him, once they made it to the fifth floor and barged into the hallway. Arthur immediately started looking for room 511 and was able to quickly find it. Arthur went to try the handle and watched as it slowly morphed into what looked like oak and the handle change into a simple knob.

"This curse is turning out to be quite useful," Arthur muttered, trying to turn the knob again, though it seemed like the lock at changed from needing a keycard to needing an actual key. Impatiently, Arthur held out his hand to it, focusing on unlocking it and opened his eyes when he heard a click and the door swung into the room.

"Nice magic," Alfred nodded.

"Just don't expect me to keep it up," Arthur sighed, standing up slowly. Just doing that was already making him feel drowsy. Inside the room, it was dark, the curtains were closed and everything seemed to just be in shadows. Why did everything involving Ivan have to turn out to be creepy?

Arthur shakily walked into the room, looking around for the three people he knew should be in there, but found nothing but a dark room. It was exactly the same as their own, just flipped over as it was on the other side of the hallway. Sitting on the bed, however, was that trunk Arthur remembered from earlier. He quickly rushed to the side of the bed, looking around for any sign that it could be a trick. Finding nothing, Arthur opened the trunk, lifting the lid up all the way and looked inside.

"Hey," Peter smiled up at him, curled into a ball to be able to fit into the trunk.

"You idiot," Arthur sighed, shaking his head and helping the poor kid out of his cramped position.

"Well, it needed to be someone you cared about," Peter shrugged, laughing slightly. "It was either me or Alfred and he can't fit in here, so that would've sucked."

"This is too easy," Arthur muttered, looking around the room. "The way Ivan put it, you could die."

"Um…yeah…" Peter rubbed the back of his head. "I…I still can…"

"What?" Arthur's attention snapped back to him.

"Well, obviously you haven't gotten past those three," Peter shrugged. "And they're still under Ivan's control, right?"

"Well, where are they?" Arthur asked.

"I dunno," Peter shrugged. "I've been in a trunk, remember?"

"Hey, Arthur," Alfred stated behind him.

"Yes?" Arthur asked, looking back to him. Just as he did so, the door into the room was shut, leaving them in complete darkness.

"I found them," Alfred said.

"Really now?" Arthur sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Arthur," Peter brought his attention back to him. "Ivan made it so that the control over them that he has can only be broken by you saying their names."

"Why, exactly, did he do that?" Arthur sighed. This would be quite a lot harder than he thought it would be.

"It's Rumplestiltskin," Peter laughed slightly. "Everything else has been a fairytale, right?"

"The heroin in that had a bloody spy to help her!" Arthur snapped as he felt his arms get roughly pinned behind his back.

"Just do it," Alfred sighed.

"Just shut up, you," Arthur sighed and took a deep breath, trying to focus enough to come up with something to do against the one pinning him back. Eventually, he came up with something; he wasn't sure what. When he…cast the spell or whatever it is he does, he felt a massive puff of air behind him and the person holding him back seemed to disappear. It was still dark, but Arthur still looked around, trying to figure out where everyone was in this room. Without him even trying or thinking, the lights suddenly turned on and Arthur had to blink several times to grow accustomed to the light.

He quickly glanced about the room, trying to gauge what was happening. Alfred was being pinned by the blonde puppet and it didn't seem like he was fighting back. He assumed it was because Ivan might be making sure Arthur had to do this on his own. Peter was being pinned by the brunette puppet, and he did actually seem to be trying slightly to go against him, but he was just a kid, so he couldn't fight very well. He was still working for Ivan, though, so that would explain why he wasn't using magic to fight back.

Arthur tried once again to focus on what he had to do. He could tell with the way things were playing out that the only way he could get out of here was to do what Peter said. He would have to figure out their names. The albino puppet was the one that had pinned him down and, seeing as he was still overcoming what happened with the puff of air, he would be the easiest one to come up with a name for. He was distracted.

He closed his eyes, searching for something, anything. Eventually, a name did present itself in his mind and he opened his eyes just in time to see the albino puppet stand up.

"Uh…" Arthur stumbled backwards slightly. "G-Gilbert?" The puppet faltered slightly, but it didn't seem to do anything as he tackled Arthur to the floor.

"You have to do the whole name, Arthur," Peter stated.

"How is that bloody helpful?" Arthur snapped at him, but closed his eyes never the less and tried to focus once more on finding a name. Any kind of name he could think up. He honestly felt like he was taking quit a long time, but this Gilbert wasn't doing anything, so it couldn't be too long.

"Belschmidt," Arthur opened his eyes and Gilbert faltered once again. "Gilbert Belschmidt."

Finally, Gilbert stopped moving and he grew a blank stare on his face. Arthur sighed and moved his legs so that he could kick Gilbert off of him and quickly sat upright. He figured he got it right, but it seemed like Gilbert had to recover from his being controlled. Arthur slowly moved to stand up, starting to feel slightly drowsy. He shook his head. He had to focus.

"Behind you," Alfred stated and Arthur looked behind himself just in time to see the brunette puppet release Peter and charge towards him.

Instinctively, Arthur put his hands in front of himself in an effort to protect himself. Surprisingly enough, a burst of light came from his hands and the brunette puppet stumbled back, blinded. Taking this time to his advantage, Arthur tried to repeat what he did with Gilbert and very quickly came up with two names.

"A-Antonio Carriedo," Arthur stated. This Antonio blinked away his blindness, but the name didn't seem to affect him at all. He charged forward again and Arthur was narrowly able to avoid it. "Did I get it wrong?"

"Some people go by three names," Peter helped.

"You just keep making things harder," Arthur sighed. At this point, he was running around the room like an idiot, trying to avoid Antonio's attacks. He tried to make himself focus as he ran, but it grew steadily more difficult as time went on. He wound up coming up with letters, one at a time, as he tried to avoid being tackled once again. Or quite possibly worse.

Eventually, the letters stopped coming and Arthur dove behind the bed, trying to put the letters together.

"Fernandez?" Arthur muttered. "Antonio Fernandez Carriedo." With that, Arthur heard someone collapse onto the bed and he stood up and found Antonio simply looking forward with a blank look. "Alright, one more…" Arthur was starting to feel very tired now. He had never used this much magic at once and he could feel himself starting to fade out.

Arthur looked up at the blonde puppet, who surprisingly didn't make a move to attack Arthur like the other two had. Instead, he twisted Alfred's arm in a way that even Arthur could tell was meant to be painful. At first, Alfred kept his usual blank expression. But eventually, it faltered and his face contorted in pain. He let out a scream.

"Stop!" Arthur tried to take a step towards the two, but the blonde puppet simply twisted Alfred's arm further, so Arthur had to stop. This was Alfred's first time feeling pain in his life. Probably more than just this one. Even just a small scrape right now could probably make him faint. Ivan was just giving him this emotion to make it harder for Arthur to figure this out.

Without even a second thought, Arthur lit the blonde puppet's hair on fire and the man immediately went to pat it down, letting Alfred go. Alfred dove off to the side, out of reach of the blonde puppet. Arthur was already feeling the fatigue pile up on him and he could barely even bring himself to stand now that the majority of the adrenaline from his running was gone.

He tried to focus on finding the man's name. And just barely came up with a first name before he nearly passed out.

"Dammit," Arthur muttered. "I can't get a last name…"

"I-I can't help you anymore…" Peter sighed. "Ivan'll get mad at me."

"And what if I get mad at you?" Arthur snapped at him.

"Well…" Peter muttered just as the blonde puppet got the fire out of his hair. "I can't tell you anything, I'm sorry."

"Ugh, my awesome head," Gilbert grumbled and Arthur stumbled around the bed to try to get to the other side of the room. "…Where the hell am I?"

"Good, you're awake," Arthur muttered and knelt down next to him. He couldn't even stand on his own, the magic was taking so much out of him. "Do you know him?" Arthur pointed at the blonde puppet. Peter couldn't help him, but that didn't mean other people could.

"Huh?" Gilbert glanced over at where Arthur was pointing and it took him a moment to realize what he was looking at. "Bruder?"

"Bruder?" Arthur asked. "You mean brother?"

"Uh, in English, sure," Gilbert stated.

"Ludwig Belschmidt," Arthur stated, looking to the blonde puppet and really hoping he didn't need to find three names again. Luckily, Ludwig stopped and toppled onto the ground.

"Oh, shieβe," Gilbert scrambled up to his feet and ran over to where Ludwig fell.

"Arthur," Alfred muttered and soon Arthur saw him kneel in front of him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, love," Arthur muttered before he could stop himself. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know," Alfred stated. "Was that pain?"

"Yes," Arthur chuckled, nodding slightly. "Is it gone now?"

"No," Alfred shook his head.

"You can still feel pain?" Arthur asked, starting to feel slightly concerned.

"I can still feel a little from my arm," Alfred stated, rubbing at his shoulder.

"Am I the only one that doesn't get someone to look after them?" a new voice asked and Arthur turned to find Antonio holding his head in his hand, looking to be warding off some sort of headache.

"Sorry, Antonio," Peter shrugged, sauntering over to him.

"Do I know you, niño?" Antonio looked at the boy.

"Not really," Peter laughed.

"Think you can take on the wolf?" Alfred asked, bringing Arthur's attention back to him.

"I can't even stand," Arthur sighed.

"So, um, hey," Gilbert stated, brining Arthur's attention to him and Ludwig, who seemed to be just waking up from his own daze. "Mind telling me what the hell's going on?"

"You were under the control of the Wizard," Peter stated. "You probably don't know who he is, but he promised to give you compensation for what you did."

"Compensation?" Gilbert scoffed. "For being a puppet?"

"I do not understand," Antonio stated. "Why did this Wizard use us?"

"To make life harder for me," Arthur grumbled.

"Yeah, there really isn't much time to talk you through this, chaps," Peter sighed, rubbing his neck. "There's a rampaging wolf out there and we need to get out and stop him before he kills someone."

"And why should we help?" Ludwig asked, still looking a little out of it.

"He's someone you'll want to meet," Peter smiled.

"And how the bloody hell do you expect me to stand a chance while I'm like this?" Arthur glared at him.

"I can do this," Peter held out his hand and a small puff of what looked like sparkles made their way to Arthur's face. Once they reached him, Arthur coughed and tried to use his hand to swipe at them and get them to go away, but they were gone before he could even blink. Suddenly, he felt his energy come back to him with not even a trace of fatigue left.

"What did you just do?" Arthur gaped at him.

"It's something Ivan taught me," Peter shrugged, very pleased with himself.

"Of course," Arthur rolled his eyes and stood up, Alfred following him close behind.

"Ivan isn't as bad as you think he is," Peter sighed.

"That's the wizard, right?" Gilbert asked as he helped Ludwig stand up. It was a little hard for Arthur to imagine those two as brothers with the stark contrast between the two, but at least they acted like brothers. "From my perspective, he's a dick."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Arthur muttered.

"If I could tell you, I would," Peter sighed. "Right now, though, we have to deal with Fel…I-I mean the wolf."

"You know his name?" Arthur asked.

"There really isn't time right now," Peter said impatiently. "Your brothers are down there right now fighting against him."

"The second this is over," Arthur glared at him before starting towards the door, "you are telling me everything you know."

"You won't have that much spare time," Peter sighed, but Arthur couldn't hear him as he was already out of the room.

"I will help you," Antonio sprang off the bed and followed after them down the hallway.

"If it means I can get back at the bastard," Gilbert chimed, helping his brother out of the room, but Ludwig was starting to do well on his own, "you have my awesome help."

"I'm helping, too!" Peter chimed, following them and shutting the poor door behind them all.

"You were the one who helped us out of it," Ludwig stated. "I should at least pay you back."

"Are you all sure?" Arthur asked as they reached the stairs and started going down.

"I'll help, too," Alfred stated. "Even with the pain."

"I don't guarantee you'll make it out alright," Arthur sighed. "Ivan's only guaranteed that I'll live."

"Why just you?" Gilbert asked.

"Long story," Peter said quickly.

"Yeah, I don't trust you, little man," Gilbert stated.

"We need all of the help we can get," Arthur muttered. "Now that everyone else can see the wolf, I'm afraid it's gotten a lot stronger. And Peter's magic is sadly, stronger than mine at this point."

"Can you tell us some more about this wolf?" Antonio asked.

"We don't know much," Alfred stated, glancing back at him. "We saw it once before in the forest and now it's rampaging the city."

"And people we care about are trying to stall for time," Arthur sighed and they made it to the bottom of the stairs. He started pushing through the crowd around him, ignoring their shouts as their clothes changed with his touch. The crowd had grown since they first walked in there, all of them murmuring about the wolf and the "brave people trying to stop it."

Once Arthur made it to the front doors, he tried to push his way through them, but someone grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.

"You don't want to go out there, boy," the man that pulled him back warned.

"And I doubt you want to try holding me back," Arthur warned him

"Let's go!" Peter charged past him and Arthur felt a small gust of air. It seemed to simply go right through him and slammed into the man, making him stumble back. Arthur smirked at him and headed out the door. He was the last of their now growing group to come into the street.

Even in the darkness, he could see the chaos. Bent over street lamps, turned over cars, uprooted trees… He could faintly see the wolf and the several people running around it like madmen trying to stop it.

"Here goes nuthin'," Gilbert shrugged and started running into the dark street.

* * *

**For some reason, this chapter was rather hard to write. It was supposed to be kind of actiony, but not too much... The big action happens in the next two chapters! Anyway, Gilbert, Antonio, and Ludwig are now out of their trance and everyone's gonna help with the wolf. Were you able to catch something about the wolf up there? I tried to make it really obvious.**

**Anywho, I'm putting up a new story as of today, it's called Lost Diamond, it's a PruCan, and it's based off Aladdin. If you're interested, please check it out!**

**And please review! It's totally awesome!**


	12. Wolf

"Gilbert," Ludwig groaned as Antonio went charging with him.

"I guess they really are massive idiots," Arthur muttered and started walking into the street. The wolf was a fair distance away, but it was fairly easy to find it, despite its dark color. The more he focused on it, the more he noticed that there was something…odd about it. It acted a little less like a wolf…and a little more like…a man.

"Do you know what you're going to do?" Peter asked.

"I have no bloody clue," Arthur shook his head, but he continued walking anyway. If this was Ivan's doing, then Arthur would probably be the only one who could take care of the wolf. He couldn't just run away, that would only make things worse.

"Oi, Art, there you are," Scott jogged up to him, panting very heavily, but smiling slightly none the less. "Took ya long enough."

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked worriedly. "The wolf isn't causing you too much trouble?"

"Nah," Ian jogged up to them now. "It's almost like it wants to play. But it can't do it without nearly killing people."

"So we've been running around to keep it entertained," Scott smiled.

"It's got a lot of energy," Ian panted.

"So, he wants to play?" Arthur asked.

"Then why did he attack Arthur and Peter in the forest?" Alfred asked. "He even bit me."

"Ivan toying with him, perhaps," Arthur muttered.

"If you are done talking," Francis ran around behind Arthur, as if cowering behind him. "You should get to killing it now."

"I don't think I want to kill him," Arthur stated, looking at the wolf. He was pouncing around like a giant dog, very nearly killing the people around it trying to "play."

"He's nearly killed us!" Francis argued with him.

"And how many of the challenges Ivan has had me do required my killing someone?" Arthur glared back at him. "None. Besides, the wolf wants to play, yeah? He's not intentionally causing anyone harm, is he?"

"I don't even think he's a wolf," Alfred stated, staring intently at him.

"I'm starting to think he's more of a werewolf," Arthur said and started walking around his brothers, towards the wolf.

"Werewolf?" Scott started laughing. "Those things don't even exist!"

"And yet you don't find it hard to comprehend at all that I can light your hair on fire at will," Arthur sighed.

Before long, Matthew came up to them, panting heavily, too.

"Thank God you're finally here," Matthew muttered under his heavy breath.

"Yes, thank you for distracting him," Arthur nodded to him.

"He seems to think he's more like a small dog," Matthew stated. "All he wants to do is play around."

"So I've been told," Arthur muttered, starting to formulate a plan in his head. "You're tired. You and the others should take a break. The rest of us can take care of him."

"I have no problem with that," Matthew nodded and jogged over to where the other three were.

"Now, where did Connor go off to?" Arthur asked himself, looking around. All he could see was Gilbert and Antonio laughing with each other whilst playing around with the wolf, nearly dying. For two people that had just met each other, they were having quite a lot of fun.

"It looks like the wolf has something under its paw," Ludwig stated and Arthur immediately looked over to the paws. Sure enough, under one of the front paws was a person.

"Is that your other brother?" Peter asked.

"Connor," Arthur gritted his teeth and started running towards the wolf. He got an idea that should work, and it would move the wolf fairly easily. Arthur forced himself to a halt and held up his hand to the air. Without much need to focus, a massive ball of light appeared over his head and the wolf immediately went to stare at it.

"Follow me!" Arthur shouted at him and began running, making the ball of light stay above him as he ran. He could feel it draining him slightly, but he would have to deal with that. He quickly turned a corner and turned off the light, clinging as close as he could to the wall. The wolf quickly blew past him and Arthur felt himself panting.

"Arthur, are you okay?" Alfred asked, running up to him.

"I'm fine," Arthur nodded. "Is Connor okay?"

"He got out alright," Alfred nodded.

"Good," Arthur muttered. "We need to come up with something. Some way for me to get close to him without being killed."

"We have four other people with us," Alfred reported. "They can be useful."

"Yes, and five others if we get desperate," Arthur muttered and looked down the road where the wolf went. He didn't appear to be coming back, so it was safe for them to move back to where the others were. He and Alfred started jogging over to where the others were, scattered around on the street.

"He's alive!" Scott laughed and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I know if I actually did die, you would be an emotional wreck," Arthur sighed.

"So, what's your plan, Mr. Magic?" Gilbert asked, stretching. "Those others may be tired, but the awesome me is ready to go!"

"Mr. Magic?" Arthur asked.

"I like the name on you, jerk," Peter laughed.

"Sod off," Arthur sighed. "I don't have much of a plan for now. All I know is that I need to be able to get close to the wolf."

"So we just distract him, si?" Antonio asked.

"He wants to play," Arthur nodded. "Distract him as long as you won't be killed. I don't want anyone to be hurt."

"What, exactly, should we do to distract him?" Ludwig asked.

"Come on, West," Gilbert laughed. "You've got your own dogs back at home! Where ever the hell that is now… Play fetch or something!"

"We could chase him around, too," Antonio offered.

"And I can see if I can ride him!" Peter chimed. "I've always wanted to try it ever since I met him!"

"I will try to help you as much as I can," Arthur stated and the wolf's howl cut through the night air, making them all look up. Arthur was even able to catch sight of the moon above them. Through a small layer of clouds, Arthur could see a crescent, purple moon. It set him on edge, slightly, but he forced himself to look down and down the street, where the wolf was charging down.

"Let's go," Alfred stated and the others nodded, running right for the wolf.

"What are you planning to do, mon ami?" Francis asked behind him.

"I'm not quite sure," Arthur stated. "All I know is that I need to get near him."

"Just don't get yourself killed," Scott stated.

"It's not myself I'm worried about," Arthur started walking. "It's everyone else."

He could see Gilbert and Antonio in front of the wolf, waving around like idiots and trying to make it chase them. Peter was near the tail end, obviously trying to figure out how he'll get onto the thing. And Alfred and Ludwig were awkwardly off to the side, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do. Arthur sighed, rolling his eyes at the sight of how hopeless they were, and decided to try to help. Seeing how well the ball of light worked the first time, Arthur tried repeating it, just over Gilbert and Antonio. It did work, making him squint at the brightness contrasting with the dark around them, but it definitely got the wolf's attention.

"Shieβe!" Gilbert yelled and started running with Antonio, the wolf scampering happily behind them. They stayed in the same street, thankfully and were starting to turn around, towards the others.

"Alfred! Ludwig!" Arthur shouted, gathering the attention of the two men. He snapped his fingers, hoping that what he wanted to achieve would happen. Surprisingly, a fairly large, red ball dropped into Alfred's arms.

"Fetch?" Alfred asked.

"Might as well give it a try," Arthur shrugged and moved the light to over Alfred and Ludwig. Alfred handed the ball over to Ludwig, who held the ball out for the wolf to see. Immediately, the wolf stopped in its tracks and stared happily at the ball, its tail wagging about happily. Arthur couldn't help but let out a laugh. This was far different than the wolf from the forest.

Right when Ludwig threw the ball down the opposite end of the street, the wolf charged after it, letting out an excited howl. Arthur looked around, trying to think of anything else. He would need to find a way to get close to the wolf without getting hurt or thinking he was playing. But he was starting to feel a little tired from the magic already. He knew Peter probably wouldn't help him again because of Ivan, so he would have to use magic sparingly.

"What now?" Gilbert asked as the wolf started charging back, ball in his mouth. "You said you need to get close to him."

"I'm not sure how," Arthur muttered. "I can't use too much magic without getting exhausted."

"What about that Peter?" Antonio asked, panting slightly from the run. "We saw him use magic."

"He can't do anything too big," Arthur sighed. "He works for Ivan."

"Then why the hell is he helping us?" Gilbert snapped as the wolf charged for Ludwig and the poor man had to start running so as not to be trampled.

"Because he's Peter," Arthur stated and tried to think of something to help Ludwig. The wolf just wanted to give the ball back, probably, so that he could play even more fetch. Luckily, Arthur didn't have to do anything, as the wolf suddenly stopped, dropping the ball.

"Did you do that?" Antonio asked.

"I didn't do anything," Arthur muttered, feeling no sense of fatigue whatsoever.

In a split second, the wolf snapped. It let out a low, menacing growl before assuming a pose, ready to pounce, right at Ludwig. Arthur held out his hand, hoping something useful would come, right as the wolf lunged. Some invisible wall stopped the wolf, though, giving Ludwig plenty of time to run away. The wolf shook his head, looking around as if trying to find who put the wall there.

"What was that?" Alfred asked, coming up to the three.

"I think he has personality disorder," Gilbert muttered as the wolf let out an angry howl and started running right for their group.

"Spread out," Arthur stated and started running, more or less in the direction of Peter. It seemed that the wolf was charging after Alfred at the moment, so Arthur was able to stop at talk to Peter.

"Is it Ivan making the wolf act like this?" Arthur asked quickly, panting slightly from his run.

"No," Peter shook his head. "He…He came to Ivan with a problem. He's a werewolf, you guessed it. But usually when he turns into a wolf, he gets crazy. What Ivan did was try to help him."

"What exactly does the Wizard do?" Arthur asked.

"I can't tell you," Peter said quickly, looking behind Arthur. "Ivan will eventually, just don't worry and he's coming right now!" Arthur quickly looked behind him and dove out of the way as the wolf charged right where they were standing.

"Arthur," Alfred came running next to him.

"You're bleeding," Arthur said, looking up at him. There was a massive scrape along one side of his face and he was obviously leaning against it. There were a few places where the scrape had some traces of blood running along it.

"Yeah, I know," Alfred nodded slowly, wincing. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Arthur nodded slowly and put his hand up against Alfred's face. Below where his fingers touched, the scrape seemed to melt away, revealing smooth skin. It slowly spread until his whole face had returned to normal, not even the streaks of blood remaining.

"You didn't have to do that," Alfred stated.

"Didn't even try," Arthur smirked and moved to stand up, but a massive wave of fatigue hit him and he fell back down.

"Do you need me to help you up?" Alfred asked and Arthur could see something in his eyes that he hadn't seen yet.

"Are you…caring?" Arthur asked.

"I guess," Alfred shrugged and helped Arthur to stand up.

"I'll be fine," Arthur assured him, pushing the hands away, and trying to stand well on his own. He rocked slightly, but he was fine.

"Good," Alfred nodded and looked to the wolf. "It snapped."

"I know," Arthur nodded, watching as the wolf tried to bite at Gilbert and Antonio, who were trying to distract it. "Go help them, I need to think."

"Okay," Alfred nodded and started to run, only turning to look from Arthur and to the wolf when he was halfway to it.

"Stay awake," Arthur muttered, trying to shake his fatigue away. He slowly started walking towards the wolf, which only seemed to be getting angrier as time went on. The people around it, even Peter, were practically running around for their lives. By the time he finally got there, he was close to Ludwig.

"I'm getting tired of this," Ludwig muttered and pulled out a gun from under the back of his shirt.

"You had a gun?" Arthur muttered. When he was risking his life up in the hotel room, it all could have been ended with a gunshot?

This thought process stopped, short, though, when he saw Ludwig aim the gun at the wolf's head.

"No, stop!" Arthur yelled at him. He didn't know much about this wolf, but he did know that something was not normal. He wasn't supposed to kill it.

"It will kill us all before we can help it," Ludwig stated, not wavering slightly.

Arthur looked back to the wolf. He would have to save it, one way or another… Maybe he would just have to be alone with it…

Arthur charged forward, not even a few feet away from the wolf, and snapped his fingers, stretching his arm out to the side. A massive wall of fire appeared around the wolf and Arthur in an oval, each of them marking the end of it. With that much expense of energy through magic, Arthur felt about ready to just collapse onto the ground. He was panting, just barely able to keep standing.

The wolf growled at him, slowly moving forward, as if to pounce.

"I want to help you," Arthur panted. "Let me."

The wolf simply stared at him with cold, unfeeling eyes.

"Let me find out what's wrong with you," Arthur held out his hand, which was trembling. Not because he was scared, but because he was exhausted.

The wolf slowly inched towards him and his eyes changed. They turned into a soft brown. They were light, despite the night around them. The wolf came even closer and nudged its face underneath Arthur's hand.

"Arthur!" Alfred yelled from the other side of the flames.

"He's dead," Gilbert snorted.

Arthur let his hand drop, far too tired to keep it up. The wolf came closer, putting his face into Arthur's chest. Arthur let out a laugh, slowly petting the creature.

"You're not all that bad," Arthur smiled at it and pulled back slightly to look into its face. "Something is wrong with you, though, isn't there?"

The wolf nodded, letting out a sad noise and lifted up, onto its hind legs. Arthur didn't know how, but he knew what he had to do. He slowly outstretched his hand until it pressed against the wolf's chest and Arthur could feel his heartbeat. Before long, the area around his hand started to glow and it slowly stretched out to surround the wolf. Arthur had to look away, it was so bright.

When it finally died down, Arthur opened his eyes. His hand was still on the chest of the wolf, but it was no longer furry, rather it felt like human skin. Arthur looked into the wolf's eyes, but it was surrounded by, not a wolf's face, but a human's. The human smiled at him, a weak smile, and Arthur returned the gesture.

Then the two simply crumpled to the ground.

On the other end of the fire wall, Alfred was feverishly trying to find a way around it. He heard the wolf, but Arthur was calmly talking to it. That didn't automatically mean that he was safe. Eventually, the fire went down and Alfred saw Arthur, on the ground, with another boy. The wolf was gone, so Alfred immediately ran to Arthur's side, putting his ear next to Arthur's mouth to make sure he was still breathing.

"Don't worry, they just passed out," Peter stated.

"Who is this one?" Ludwig asked. He was the first one at the boy's side. Alfred finally gave the boy a good look. He was small, obviously not very strong, in stark comparison to the wolf. He had brunette hair with a red tint to it and the weirdest curl coming out of the side of his head. He was blearily looking around at the people around him with soft brown eyes.

"That was the wolf," Peter said happily. "His name is Feliciano Vargas."

"That's me," Feliciano coughed weakly.

Alfred looked to Arthur again, his main point of interest. He looked so peaceful…

"You should not go around this city looking like that," Francis chuckled. "You may need to put some clothes on."

"Hey, Ludwig, you're wearing a jacket, right?" Peter nudged the man.

"Ja," Ludwig nodded slowly and shed his jacket, giving it to Feliciano.

"Is Art okay?" Scott panted. He and the brothers were the furthest away from the action, and so they were the last to come up to them.

"I think so," Alfred stated, not tearing his eyes away from Arthur.

"So he turned that giant wolf into this little boy?" Connor asked.

"He helped him return to human form," Peter stated. "Feli's had that problem for a while, but I think it's all gone now thanks to Arthur."

"Does he always pass out?" Ian asked and the three brothers went around Arthur, as if to check and make sure he really was alright.

"Usually," Matthew sighed.

"Uh, I have to go now," Peter sighed and, in a flash, he disappeared.

"There is no way I can trust that kid," Gilbert scoffed.

"We should get these two inside," Ludwig stated, moving to pick up Feliciano, who seemed to be on the verge of consciousness.

"We can go to the hotel," Francis offered. "I'm sure they'll consider us heroes and give us free rooms."

"Alright," Alfred nodded, picking up Arthur and turning towards the hotel.

"We can ask the kid about himself once he fully wakes up," Scott stated.

"A free room does sound nice," Antonio muttered as the group started towards the hotel, which was filled with cheering people.

"I think I'll keep hanging around these people," Gilbert shrugged. "Free stuff and awesome experiences."

The group stepped into the hotel to receive cheers and pats on the back and in some cases (Francis) kisses.

* * *

**Alrighty! So the wolf is taken care of now and everything'll be happy for the time being. Until the next chapter, that is! Now, you see, I'm pretty stoked for the next chapter so here's what I'm going to do; I'm going to give you the title.**

**Please review and look out for the next chapter in a few days! **

**Chapter 10. Dragon.**


	13. Dragon

Arthur was growing to get annoyed with the feeling of waking up on that stupid bed. He could hear some people talking around him and it took him a while to be able to understand them.

"That Feli kid really is weird," that was Scott's voice.

"He seems to like that Ludwig enough," Francis's voice laughed.

"He's been asleep longer than usual, hasn't he?" Alfred's voice asked. He actually sounded worried and Arthur wanted to wake up to make him stop worrying, but he couldn't.

"Don't worry, he's fine," Connor's voice stated.

"He just used a lot of magic, is all," Ian's voice sighed. "He'll wake up soon."

"You should eat," Matthew's voice stated.

"Not hungry," Alfred's voice said.

"When are you?" Francis's voice chuckled.

"Maybe you should kiss him awake," Scott's voice snickered.

"Yeah, kiss awake your princess," Ian's voice laughed.

"Sod off," Arthur mumbled, just barely able to open his eyes.

"You're awake," Alfred stated.

"I can tell," Arthur sighed, opening his eyes all the way and observing the room. Alfred was standing next to the bed Arthur was lying on with Matthew sitting on the bed behind him. Ian and Connor were leaning against the wall nearest Arthur's bed and Scott and Francis were standing near the foot of the bed.

"Are you alright?" Alfred asked.

"I'm fine, love," Arthur muttered, sitting upright on the bed. "Where are those other four?"

"Their own rooms," Scott stated. "The city's so happy you defeated that wolf that they wanted to give each of us our own rooms."

"Alfred refused to be separated from you, though," Matthew stated and Arthur looked at Alfred, who simply shrugged.

"So a few people share rooms," Francis stated.

"For everyone's sake, I hope you have your own room," Arthur sighed, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up.

"Don't worry, the frog has his own room," Scott smirked.

"Why do you all insist on calling me a frog?" Francis asked.

"Isn't that all you French bastards eat?" Connor laughed.

"Non, it is not!" Francis argued. "If you want to argue about cooking, I could go on about how horrible your country's cooking is!"

Arthur rolled his eyes, uninterested with the ensuing argument between his brothers and Francis and turned to Alfred, who was still looking over him.

"I'm fine," Arthur assured him. "I just used too much magic, is all."

"You shouldn't have healed me," Alfred stated. "It used a lot of your energy."

"I wanted to," Arthur sighed. "Just healing you wasn't enough to make me pass out like I did."

"It would have a couple days ago," Alfred said.

"Yes, I know," Arthur nodded. He had been noticing that he could use more and more magic as the days passed by. Was he…pushing the curse back?

"Well, now that we got that sorted out," Connor said happily, satisfied with however the argument ended, and placed a rough hand in Arthur's hair and ruffled it, "we can get back to Artie."

"Would you quit that?" Arthur snapped at him, smacking the hand away.

"You want to know about that Feliciano kid, right?" Scott asked.

"The wolf?" Arthur asked.

"Oui," Francis nodded, still sounding slightly angry about their argument. "He woke up quite some time ago."

"How long have I been asleep?" Arthur asked.

"A day," Alfred stated.

"An entire, bloody day?" Arthur snapped.

"And night," Ian chimed in. "After you passed out, you slept the entire next day and night. It's morning now."

"The people of the city are waiting to give you some kind of present for saving them," Matthew informed.

"Do they think I killed the wolf or something?" Arthur asked.

"Well, after your wall of fire went down, the wolf was gone," Ian shrugged. "I guess they assumed that you either killed it or made it disappear. Either way, they're happy."

"So, Feliciano," Arthur stated. "You said he woke up. Have you learned much about him?"

"He said that, for a while, he has had problems with turning into a wolf," Francis stated. "Every time he turned, he lost control. So he went to the Wizard for help and he turned the boy into a wolf full-time, promising that it would help. Since then, he flashed between just playing around, and going into a frenzy. Then you came along."

"Ivan said he would help him?" Arthur asked. "And then just turned him into a wolf?"

"Technically, you were the one to help him," Scott shrugged. "Either way, the kid's happy. He's really hitting it off with that German."

"I guess we should head outside, then," Arthur muttered, going to stand up. Alfred moved to help him, but Arthur simply held up a hand to stop him and stood up on his own. "Might as well get our few moments of happiness in before Ivan starts something again."

Suddenly, the ground underneath them shook: a short earthquake.

"Too late," Matthew muttered, looking out of the window. Another short earthquake came, soon followed by another. In-between these were screams of people below them.

Arthur immediately rushed to the window and could not believe his eyes. Each small earthquake was a step of this giant, black beast walking through the streets, its wings spread wide. It let out a roar, an ear-splitting sound that made everyone in the room stumble.

"A dragon?" Arthur muttered, hardly believing the words that came out of his own mouth.

"What?" Scott charged next to him, moving Arthur out of the way to look out of the window.

"Is that Ivan's next challenge?" Connor asked. "A dragon?"

"Da."

Arthur immediately turned around at the sound of that voice. He couldn't see him, though.

"No one will see me, I am not there," Ivan chuckled.

"Arthur?" Alfred came up close to him. "Is everything okay?"

"You are the only one who can hear me," Ivan's voice stated as Arthur shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Alfred asked as the others looked at Arthur, who didn't say a word, listening to Ivan. What was he doing in his head?

"You said so yourself that you haven't had to kill anything yet," Ivan's voice continued. "That is a disappointment. So here is your next challenge, but do not worry, you are almost done. Slay my dragon."

Arthur sat down onto the bed behind him. Slay? He would have to actually kill something now?

"I look forward to seeing you fight when you do not hold back," Ivan's voice finished and then Arthur had his mind back to himself.

"Arthur," Alfred knelt in front of him, gripping onto his shoulders.

"I have to kill it," Arthur muttered.

"Actually kill?" Francis asked. "You were the one that said you did not have to-"

"And Ivan realized his mistake," Arthur stated.

"You could die going against that thing," Alfred stated.

"And I could have died with the other challenges as well," Arthur argued. "The witches could have cooked us, the apple could have killed me, Ludwig had a gun, the wolf could have killed me…twice."

"Ivan did say he wasn't going to kill you," Matthew stated.

"How can he protect Arthur from a dragon?" Scott argued. "There's no way."

"I should get going," Arthur stood up.

"No," Alfred and Scott said at the same time.

"It will rampage the city," Arthur stated. "Since this is Ivan's doing, I am the only one who can stop it. There is nothing else we can do."

"I won't let you get hurt," Alfred stated.

"Then come with me," Arthur looked right into his eyes and then started for the door.

"Do you even have a plan, Arthur?" Ian sighed.

"What always kills a dragon in the fairytales?" Arthur asked.

"A sword," Matthew stated.

"Where the hell are you going to get a sword, Arthur?" Connor asked.

"Didn't I say Ludwig had a gun?" Arthur asked and continued. He could hear footsteps behind him so he didn't stop.

"Sir," a woman, a maid by the looks of it, ran up to them. "Um, I'm terribly sorry, but we have to evacuate the building. On account of…account of the dragon…"

"Have you evacuated everyone else?" Arthur asked her.

"Nearly, sir," the maid nodded.

"Good," Arthur nodded and started towards where the stairs were. From the looks of it, when he entered the stair well, they were still on the fifth floor. Alfred was close behind him and he quickly made his way down the stairs and the rest of the group was just a few steps behind them. When they made it into the lobby, he found it ghostly empty. There were people running around outside, still screaming, and the footsteps continued. It was almost as if the dragon was searching for something. Or someone.

Once Arthur made it out side, he began searching for Ludwig. Everything was evacuated by now and Arthur could tell why. The dragon had knocked over multiple buildings and Arthur could just see its tail as it made its way around a corner. Ludwig couldn't be too far away, considering he could already see Antonio and Gilbert close by.

"Where is your brother?" Arthur immediately went up to Gilbert, having to yell over all of the noise. The dragon let out another roar.

"I think he went after that thing!" Gilbert yelled back. "He has a gun, but I really don't think that will help!"

"Right," Arthur nodded and started running down the street. He could tell Alfred was close by, and that was enough for him. He had seen where the dragon turned and quickly made his way there, running as quickly as he could. Before long, he did see Ludwig, Feliciano standing next to him, trying to shoot at the dragon. But it didn't seem like he was getting very far and the dragon was unaffected.

"Ludwig!" Arthur ran up to him and Ludwig glanced back at him. "I need your gun."

"What?" Ludwig asked.

"What you are doing obviously isn't working," Arthur said breathlessly. "If I had it, I have an idea to make it far more effective."

"Arthur," Feliciano smiled over at him and Arthur gave him a nod. "I am trying to turn back into the wolf, to help, but it isn't working."

"It's probably because I stopped it," Arthur stated. "I don't think you can turn into the wolf anymore."

"Really?" Feliciano's eyes widened.

"Ludwig, I need your gun," Arthur stated firmly.

"It has no more bullets left," Ludwig stated.

"That doesn't matter," Arthur held out his hand. "Please, I need your gun."

"Fine," Ludwig handed him the gun and Arthur quickly pointed it to the side, where it couldn't hurt anyone and it quickly morphed into a sword, the silver blade glittering in the sunlight. It wasn't quite as heavy as it looked, with what seemed to be a solid gold handle with a gem right at the hilt.

"Wow, you really are magic," Feliciano clapped happily.

"Jesus," Scott muttered behind them and Arthur turned to see everyone behind him.

"It can't be too hard, fighting a dragon," Arthur tried to smile, bring a lighter air to this. "After everything I've done."

"I have noticed the challenges getting harder as time passes," Francis stated.

"And I am improving with them," Arthur stated, looking down at the sword. Normally, in the fairytales, the swords that killed dragons were enchanted. Arthur had no idea how he was going to do that part.

"Don't get yourself killed, Art," Scott sighed, looking up at the dragon.

"I can't, remember?" Arthur smiled at his brothers.

"You won't get killed," Alfred stated. "But that doesn't mean you can't get hurt."

"I'll be fine, love," Arthur stated. "Now, I am going to need your help with this. The dragon is tall, so I need to get at it from the top of a building, I would suppose. I need you lot to get it here and keep it here."

"How?" Gilbert asked. "Not even West shooting at it makes it twitch."

"Just try," Arthur sighed. "I will try to help as soon as I get to the top of the building."

"Let's go then," Antonio said happily.

"Be safe," Alfred stated and Arthur nodded to him and the group started after the dragon, Gilbert screaming to get his attention. Immediately, Arthur ran into the closest building and started for the stairs. From the looks of it, it was an office building. From the outside, it seemed to be rather tall. 10 stories, at least. So, as Arthur began getting tired on his run up, he cast a small spell that helped him gain some more energy. He had no idea how he was doing it, but he was getting better as time went on with knowing what he would get when he thought certain things.

Eventually, he made it to the top after about 13 floors, and reached a metal door that led to the top. When he emerged, he could easily see the dragon, but it was still far away. Arthur tried to think of some way to attract its attention. It was light out, rather than dark like when he fought the wolf, so that ball of light wouldn't work.

Arthur quickly started a fire in his hand and threw it at the dragon. He even used magic to make it go further and actually hit the thing. At the impact, the dragon shook its head and looked at the direction where the fire was thrown. Arthur simply threw another and the dragon started moving.

"Good," Arthur nodded and then looked at the sword in his hands. Just a regular gun-turned-sword would probably not kill a dragon. Arthur took a deep breath, trying to focus. An enchanted sword couldn't be that big of a challenge, considering all that he'd done in the past couple of days. He felt a drain of some kind and opened his eyes to look at the sword and found that it had this kind of glow to it.

The dragon roared again and Arthur looked up to find it a lot closer. Arthur threw another fire ball at it. The building was slightly taller than it, probably by just a floor. Arthur ran a plan through his head. It wasn't much, but it was all he had. His life had turned into a fairytale and any fairytale he had read with a dragon had a sword cutting off its head. This dragon obviously wasn't going to put its head down long enough for Arthur to try this from the ground.

The closer it got, the more Arthur saw that it would be rather hard to cut through its skin. The scales were massive and seemed to have no break in them show even some kind of weakness. It might take more than an enchanted sword to kill this dragon… But Arthur had nothing else, really, to go off of. This would have to work. Arthur could see everyone on the ground, some of them trying to look up at Arthur, some of them trying to yell at the dragon.

Arthur took a few steps back, ready to run and jump off the building. He couldn't believe he was about to do this…He would be fine, though. Just like any other time; he would be just fine. Perfectly fine.

When the dragon was in a fairly good position, its neck exposed, Arthur started running. Once he reached the edge of the building, he jumped off, raising the sword over his head. He saw the dragon's neck underneath him and swung the sword down as hard as he could. But all it did was create a nick in the scales.

"Come on," Arthur muttered, trying to push it even harder, his feet pressing into its neck. The dragon roared, but luckily it had short arms so it couldn't easily get to him. All Arthur had to do was keep balanced as its neck started moving back and forth in hopes to swing him off.

Arthur tried a different tactic with the sword and had it light on fire. It got just a little further, but it wasn't working. Arthur tried to push it harder, but it felt like something was blocking him. It was almost like a wall in his mind…Was this the curse? Arthur couldn't even feel the fatigue anymore as he tried to push against the wall and he saw the sword go further into the neck of the dragon. Some blood even came out, staining the sword slightly.

"Almost," Arthur said through gritted teeth and pushed further. Suddenly, the wall disappeared at once and the sword easily swiped through the rest of the dragon's neck. Arthur found himself falling for a short while, letting go of his sword, until the world went black.

"Arthur!" Alfred yelled, seeing the dragon's head starting to fall. He felt something, in that instant, like being suffocated. His mind turned into a suffocating mess, a jumble of…emotions. He laughed slightly, holding onto his head. He was actually happy. But there was still this emptiness in his chest, like his heart wasn't exactly there.

This happy mood shattered when he saw Arthur falling, limp, towards the ground.

"No! Arthur!"

* * *

**So, someone told me that this story was similar to an anime; Princess Tutu. So I decided to watch it and, you know what? The similarities are remarkable! I swear I didn't even try to do that. I had only seen half of one episode of Princess Tutu before, so I swear this story was not taken from that. It also has a lot more action and less dancing…**

**Anyway, onto the part you guys probably care about, Arthur just slayed a dragon! And that wall was indeed the curse, but he was able to break it. All of your other questions, though, shall be answered in the next chapter. You'll even find out what Ivan is up to!**

**So please review and look out for the next chapter!**

**Chapter 11. Pricked.**


	14. Pricked

Arthur felt exhausted. More than exhausted. He felt as if he could sleep for months. But he was waking up nevertheless. As he opened his eyes, it took him a while to see that he was in some kind of alley way. It was open on either side and Arthur could vaguely see people on either side. In front of him was a blurry man. As he slowly came into focus, Arthur could see white hair and purple eyes staring right at him.

"Ivan," Arthur muttered and tried to get up, but he was far too exhausted to even move.

"You are tired, da?" Ivan asked curiously. "I would imagine you would be, breaking my curse. But you only had to use half of all your magic."

"What do you want from me?" Arthur muttered.

"One last request," Ivan smiled. "But I will get to that later. Now, I want to say congratulations."

"For what?" Arthur mumbled. He was incredibly tired now, but it was almost as if something was blocking him from falling asleep.

"You are done," Ivan stated. "And you have done well."

"Done with what?" Arthur asked. It was getting rather annoying how Ivan was avoiding the subject.

"In your story," Ivan said, "you were supposed to be my apprentice, da? I knew it from the moment I saw you. We made a deal in this story. Your Alfred's heart in exchange for you being my apprentice. In reality, the training was before that, but it did really start then."

"Training?" Arthur muttered.

"I lied when I said that this was the furthest you had got," Ivan shrugged. "You don't expect to just think a spell and be able to do it, da? It was years and years and years of practice."

"This was all just training?" Arthur asked. "All of the times I almost died, all of the times my friends almost died?"

"You are confused," Ivan stated. "Let me explain. I got my method from my own master, the Wizard before me. He was known as General Winter to everyone. Unlike myself, he was willing to kill me, and I only had one life to train. He acted as my enemy to make me fight harder, try harder. It made me stronger. I did the same for you. I tried very hard to set it up so that I would be your villain. I was known to most people as the evil Wizard. To the few that needed my help, I was the nice Wizard. I even had a Matthew Williams write a false, unfinished fairytale for Francis to read and tell you about.

"The Wizard is one who helps those in need of it. Not just regular people that need help, nyet. These people need help for something regular people are ignorant to; magic. Elizaveta came to me because her story continued on repeat. Feliciano came to me because the wolf was taking over. I promised to help them, but one of your challenges was to act as the Wizard once. You helped Feliciano, da?

"Your magic far surpasses my own. You were able to push my curse back and with every inch you gained, you were giving Alfred emotions. Most of the time, they were not able to stay. As time went on, you were able to stick them into his head. When the curse broke, you gave him all of his emotions, probably without thinking."

"Alfred said that was you," Arthur muttered.

"Why would I waste my time on that when I have his heart?" Ivan asked.

"You said I was done," Arthur stated. "That means you will give it back?"

"Nyet," Ivan shook his head. "Remember my request? General Winter's last challenge for me was to kill him. The Wizard can live forever, only his apprentice can kill him. Living forever is not fun. Living this long, dealing with not only my own issues, but you and Alfred and those others and others' problems on top of that has exhausted me. I know how General Winter felt and I will gladly welcome death."

"You want me to kill you?" Arthur asked, starting to feel more awake.

"There is only one spell that will kill us. That is why you could never die, not my blessing. Our magic constantly protects us without even our knowledge. It has saved my life many times. This spell is something only we have the power to use. Granted, you could probably do it with a quarter of your power."

"I can't…kill…" Arthur shook his head.

"It will mark the end of your training," Ivan stated. "This spell is enough to make you go mad. Go on a rampage killing everything. It was what drove General Winter over the edge. I have something that will help you, though," Ivan dug into his coat and pulled out a simple apple. "Remember this? This apple will diffuse any feelings you get from the spell. It will put you into a sleep. One that can only be awoken from with the aid of true love's kiss. I have no worries with that part. Once you are awake, you will have his heart.

"There is one issue, though," Ivan sighed before Arthur could say something. "It cannot be this one. It is true love's first kiss, it does not work the way they make you believe. It only works on the first meeting of your love. To Alfred, it will be your first meeting…for that life."

"You talk like you expect me to kill you," Arthur stated. "I can't. I won't."

"I should have made you kill more, then," Ivan smiled before dropping it once more. "I need you to kill me. It is not a blessing to live forever, you will learn soon when you have your own apprentice."

"It's the only way I can get Alfred's heart?" Arthur asked.

"Da," Ivan nodded. "You will not be able to find it on your own, believe me."

Arthur looked to his right side, where he could see Alfred, Matthew, and Francis pounding against an invisible wall.

"Alright, I'll do it," Arthur nodded slowly.

"Very good," Ivan stated and Arthur felt all of his energy and strength return to him in a moment.

"Will they know that it can't be this Alfred?" Arthur asked, slowly moving to stand up.

"They will find out, won't they?" Ivan stated

"What of everyone else?" Arthur asked. "The three you used as puppets, Peter? They are not a part of our original story and they won't continue. What will happen to them?"

"They will die at the end of this life," Ivan shrugged. "The ones directly involved in your story will continue on as usual. Your brothers are among these. What do the others have to do with anything?"

"They're friends," Arthur stated.

"You make many friends as you live," Ivan stated. "Not all of them can live forever."

"What about your sisters?" Arthur asked.

"They are only alive because of me at this point," Ivan sighed. "Once I am gone, they will leave, as well."

"Are you sure you really wish to die?" Arthur asked.

"Da," Ivan nodded, tossing the apple to Arthur, who easily caught it. "In your sleep, you will remember all of your past lives and you will also see Alfred's as he tries to find you once again. Once you give him his heart, he will remember all of his past as well. The others will be up to you if you wish them to know."

"After you're dead," Arthur muttered, "I will become the Wizard?"

Ivan nodded. "You will take my responsibility and assist those who need your help. It is a job that will never pay you, except for 'thank you's, and it is the only thing you will be able to do."

"I do not have much of a choice, do I?" Arthur sighed, staring down at the apple.

"Nyet," Ivan chuckled.

"Good luck in the afterlife, then, whatever it is," Arthur nodded to him.

"You will learn that in time," Ivan smirked.

Arthur had no idea what to say at that point. Thank you? For nearly killing me all those times? It was for the best? Arthur just simply closed his eyes and tried to focus. It was quite a deal easier than before and, before long, Arthur heard something thud onto the ground. He opened his eyes, but something was definitely off. He held out his hand to put the invisible wall that Ivan had back up to prevent the others from coming near.

Something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't tell what. He was shaking and the corners of his vision were going red.

"Bloody hell," Arthur muttered, trying to shake his head. Ivan was right about this part. Arthur had no idea what was happening and he had no intention to find out. Ivan knew what he was talking about, so Arthur didn't want to just wait around for it to get worse, when he won't want to bite the apple.

Arthur glanced at Alfred, who was pounding as hard as he could against the wall, before turning back to the apple. Before he could have second thoughts, he bit down on it and started chewing. He was already feeling drowsy by the time he swallowed it and, for what he hoped would be the last time, the world went black.

"Shit, Arthur," Alfred muttered, watching Arthur fall onto the ground. It was enough he couldn't get to him after he started falling, he just randomly disappeared. It was enough that his brothers had to find him first. It was enough that this damn wall had to hold him back. But seeing Ivan near Arthur made his skin crawl. Seeing Ivan drop made him confused. Seeing Arthur drop again…there were no words.

Finally, the wall dropped and Alfred ran as quickly as he could to get to Arthur's side. He barely made it before the brothers and checked to make sure Arthur was breathing.

"What the bloody hell happened?" Scott demanded, kneeling next to them.

"I-I don't know," Alfred shook his head, trying desperately to find something to do about Arthur. How the hell was he so calm in the past when he saw Arthur passed out like this?

"He's dead," Matthew muttered.

"No, Arthur's fine," Alfred muttered. "I-I just checked, he's breathing."

"He's not talking about Arthur," Ian stated.

"What?" Alfred looked up and looked over to where everyone else was looking. It was Ivan, who was crumpled onto the ground, and he definitely wasn't breathing. "What happened?"

"He'll tell us when he wakes up," Connor stated. "Right?"

"Of course," Alfred stated. "Artie, wake up. Come on."

"I do not think that will work," Francis sighed, kneeling next to Alfred and holding out a blood-red apple with a bite taken out of it.

"Ivan said that apple would kill him," Alfred stated. "He couldn't have eaten it."

"Since when have you been so emotional?" Scott asked.

"I saw him fall," Alfred muttered, looking back down at Arthur, who was smiling cutely in his sleep. "I don't know what happened, but I just got all of my emotions back. I don't think my heart, though. Anyway, if he's not dead, then the apple just made him sleep, right? I-I can wake him up, right?"

"True love's kiss," Matthew shrugged, stepping away from Ivan's dead body.

"Yeah," Alfred nodded and bent down, placing his lips on top of Arthur's. He pulled back, expecting Arthur to look up at him with some sort of flustered look. Or possibly even slap him. But he didn't even move. Arthur just laid there, still in his sleep. "What? No…" Alfred tried again, but when he pulled back Arthur's head simply lolled to the side.

"Found 'em!" Gilbert yelled and more people ran into the alley way. "When he teleported, we had a hard time trying to find him again."

"Art," Scott's voice shook slightly. "Quit messing around. Wake up."

"Dios mio," Antonio muttered.

"Arthur," Alfred felt himself begin to cry. All the emotions in his head were hard to control at this point. "Please. Don't…Don't do this. I just got all of my emotions."

"He's just asleep, right?" Feliciano asked in the background. "That means he'll wake up eventually, right?"

"I do not think so," Francis said sadly.

"No, it has to work!" Alfred yelled out. "He has to wake up! I-I love him…"

"Love can't win all your battles," Ian muttered. Alfred looked up at the three brothers and they looked rather distraught, too.

"Our lives are supposed to be a freaking fairytale, right?" Alfred snapped. "Then why the hell isn't it ending like a fairytale?"

"Maybe because the one orchestrating it is dead?" Matthew offered.

"It can't end like this," Alfred shook his head, holding Arthur closer to him. "No…I won't let it."

"Look, kid," Scott sighed. "I don't think there's much you can do to help him. What's done is done."

"He ate the apple for a reason," Alfred stated, looking up at him. "Ivan is dead for a reason. I-I don't know what those reasons are, but it makes me think that there's a way to wake him up."

"If that true love's kiss thing didn't work," Gilbert sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm afraid we're shit outta luck."

"Arthur, if you can hear me," Alfred looked down at Arthur's peaceful, sleeping face, "I will wake you up. I promise. I don't know how long it will take, but I'll do it. I promise we'll get our happily ever after."

"So, he's still alive, right?" Feliciano asked.

"Ja, Feli, he is," Ludwig stated.

"So, where are we going to put him?" Feliciano asked.

"It's not like we can just put him in the hotel," Matthew muttered. "He could be there for a while."

"We should bring him home," Connor stated. "He hasn't been there in years."

"The home he did not want to be in?" Francis chimed in.

"There really isn't any other place he stayed in," Scott sighed. "Or at least long enough to consider it home."

"He may have started to like it here," Alfred tried.

"While his life was constantly on the line?" Scott scoffed.

"He did seem his happiest here," Francis stated. "When he wasn't risking his life. Out of any other place, he smiled and laughed the most here."

"So, we just stick him in a hospital?" Ian asked.

"That could be the best place to take care of him," Alfred said. "Like this, I don't think he can eat or drink or anything."

"Then we can go to one back home," Scott stated.

"And if he doesn't want that?" Alfred asked.

"Then he'll get over it," Scott rolled his eyes.

"I won't take him anywhere I know he won't want to go," Alfred stated.

"Then I will," Scott sighed and tried to reach over to Arthur, but some sort of barrier stopped him before he could even touch him. "What?"

"Is he doing that?" Alfred muttered.

"What, you can't touch him?" Ian asked and stepped forward to try, but the barrier stopped him, too.

"Whoa, can only Alfred touch him?" Peter's voice asked in awe.

"When did you get here?" Alfred looked up at him.

"A few seconds ago," Peter shrugged. "I think you should let him stay here."

"You don't really have a choice now," Alfred smirked. "Since I'm the only one who can touch him."

"Just because the brat says it," Scott sighed, but Peter cut him off.

"Brat?" Peter pouted and Scott's hair soon lit on fire.

"Everyone seems to like doing that," Ian laughed as Scott put out his hair.

"As much as I love watching you guys fight over someone who's passed out next to a dead guy," Gilbert sighed, "let's just bring Mister Magic to a hospital and call it good."

"So that's why the jerk's like that," Peter muttered, glancing over at Ivan. "I should probably do something with him…"

"Like what?" Gilbert laughed. "Give the bastard a burial?"

"Ivan wasn't like that," Feliciano muttered.

"Hey, the jerk knows, so I'm cool with that," Peter shrugged.

"Knows what?" Matthew asked.

"You'll figure it out eventually," Peter stated and calmly walked in front of Ivan's body. "He did a lot for you guys, he wasn't a bastard." With a smile, Peter vanished along with Ivan.

"Arthur knows?" Alfred looked back down at Arthur. "What happened?"

"Let's just get him to a hospital, alright?" Scott sighed. "I'm sure we'll be able to afford however much it may be."

"Alright," Alfred nodded and stood up, holding Arthur princess-style easily.

"I wonder if I'll ever be able to give him a real thank you," Feliciano muttered.

"Well, I've promised that I'll wake him up," Alfred smiled. "Once I do, you'll get to say anything you want to him."

"Knowing how long it took you guys to get this far," Connor sighed, "it could take quite a while."

"Why are you guys such downers," Alfred groaned. "I said I'll wake him up and that means it'll happen. No matter how long that'll take. Considering how long he worked to help me, it's the least I can do."

"You better make good on your promise," Ian warned.

"Otherwise we'll come find ya," Scott nodded.

"Didn't I say I would protect him with my life?" Alfred smiled. "He'll be fine. I know it."

And so they started towards the city's hospital, where Arthur would stay for free for fighting off both the wolf and the dragon. Where Arthur would have to wait a long, long time before he could wake up again.

* * *

**This is, like, the calmest chapter in the whole story, I think. Even though there was character death... I'm sorry to all Russia fans! Don't kill me! It had to be done, I swear. Now I'm just gonna go hide and say that there is one chapter left before the end.**

**Please review.**


	15. Happily Ever After

Arthur had dreams. A part of him told him that they were memories. His time as the prince in his first life, his multiple times travelling the globe, every time he met with Alfred.

"_What are we doing here?"_

Every time was unique. The first time, he was just a lonely boy in a village and Alfred became his best friend and practically his brother. The second time, Alfred was a servant and Arthur was a noble and Arthur just happened to run into him and spill the glasses everywhere. The third, Arthur was running away from his brothers by trying to join World War I and Alfred saved his life. The fourth, Arthur had become a Prisoner of War in Germany and Alfred was among the soldiers that liberated him. The fifth, Arthur was close to poverty and it was Matthew and Alfred that brought him in. The sixth, Alfred saved his life in a town famous for its apples.

"_Do not tell me you do not want to see the famous Sleeping Man."_

Every time, Francis had some random thing to do with him. The first, he was Arthur's best friend. The second, he was his rival in popularity. The third, a medic in Arthur's troop. The fourth, Arthur's only friend in the Prisoner of War camp. The fifth, he was an "anonymous" benefactor that gave Arthur money to get back onto his feet. The sixth, Arthur's travelling companion.

"_They say he's been here for a hundred years."_

Every journey was something different that Ivan had planned out. A random assortment of fairytales that he would pile together and force Arthur to do something that would risk his life. Arthur's magic grew more powerful with each life until he was finally ready in the last one. When he was finally able to break the curse Ivan would always put onto him.

"_I have read many stories that say true love's kiss can wake a sleeping beauty such as this."_

The story Matthew had written down ran through Arthur's head. It differed from what actually happened in on a few occasions. In the story, Ivan had done rampages as the "evil" Wizard. In the story, every person knew the Wizard as this vile monster who would kill anything on sight. In real life, Ivan only helped. In real life, the only people that thought of him as evil were those around Arthur, just to ensure that the training would go as planned.

"_What does that matter?"_

Everything fit together like puzzle pieces. Nothing was accidental, everything was to help Arthur. He realized he should have said "thank you" to Ivan before he killed him. What he devoted just to make sure the next Wizard would become a man nearly as great as the previous one was uncanny. While also helping the people of the world solve their problems, he made sure Arthur stayed on the right track. He was torn apart just to ensure the world could continue. Arthur could only try to be half the man he was.

"_Rumor is that there's only been one other person who's been able to touch him."_

"_The man that brought him here."_

Arthur even watched as Alfred continued the story while Arthur was unable. He watched what happened when Alfred first got back to him. He was so emotional, all Arthur wanted to do was reach forward and kiss him back, but all he could do was sit in the blackness of his head and do nothing. He watched as Alfred stayed in that town his whole life, coming to see Arthur every single day just to make sure he hadn't woken up yet. He watched as Alfred died for his sixth time next to Arthur, who had not aged in 60 years. He watched Alfred and his brother be born again, into their seventh life, and had no idea what they were going to come in to. He watched Francis meet them as he studied abroad from his school and they hit it off. He watched as they travelled until they finally made it to the fabled city with the "Sleeping Man."

"_They're getting desperate to wake him up."_

"_I don't think I can help."_

"_Just try, if you cannot touch him, there is no big loss, non?"_

The blackness of his dreams surrounded Arthur as he waited. In all of the lives, they switched off saving each other's lives. Alfred would always save him first, then it was Arthur's turn to save him during that lifetime. It was Alfred's turn now and Arthur had to just sit back and wait. He had to trust Alfred, no matter how painful it was to watch him without his emotions, no matter how much he wanted to help. All he could do was sit back and wait.

"_I don't see the point in this."_

"_Oh, for maple's sake."_

Arthur was rushed out of his darkness as he felt something against his lips. He finally opened his eyes to find Alfred's blues just an inch from his face. Before Arthur could even do anything, Alfred pulled back and looked back at Matthew, who was standing behind him with Francis next to him.

"What was that for?" Alfred turned to his brother.

"You should turn around," Francis stated and Arthur slowly brought himself to blink. He had been asleep for a long time, just moving would be difficult. Luckily, Arthur didn't even have to look around to know where he was. A hospital room.

"Nurse!" Matthew called to the hallway and Alfred turned around, towards Arthur. Not even a trace of recognition showed on his face.

"He's awake!" a nurse chimed happily and was soon in the room, shining some sort of light in Arthur's eyes. More nurses flooded in, making the three people Arthur actually cared about move back.

"Can you speak?"

"Do you remember what happened to you before you were asleep?"

"What is your name?"

"A-Arthur Kirkland," Arthur mustered out, his voice very gravelly. It really had been nearly a hundred years…

"Get him water."

"And, yes, I remember," Arthur stated, trying to look around the people and to Alfred.

"It's a wonder you're alive," a man, a doctor from what Arthur could tell, knelt in front of him with a glass of water. "No one but now two men have been able to touch you in a hundred years."

"Just one," Arthur shook his head and slowly moved to try to sit up. He knew his magic had set up some sort of barrier around him, but he had no idea it wouldn't even let his brothers touch him. Luckily, the barrier did work the way it was supposed to; it preserved him.

"I don't think it's wise for you to try sitting up already," the doctor warned.

"I'm perfectly fine," Arthur smiled at him, sitting up all the way and gratefully taking the glass of water and downing it. "Now I have something I need to do."

Ignoring the confused looks all the nurses and the doctor, Arthur swiftly stood up. Just like Ivan had promised, Arthur knew exactly where the heart was now and all he would have to do was make it appear in his hand. He walked through the wall of nurses and found Alfred once again. Unlike Matthew and Francis, who were exchanging confused glances, he was simply looking at Arthur.

"Hello, love," Arthur smiled softly at him.

"Me?" Alfred blinked.

"Yes, you idiot," Arthur chuckled and the heart appeared heavily in his hand. He could hear some gasps here and there behind him, but he easily ignored them and he pushed the heart into Alfred's chest, his hand resting on it. Alfred paused for a while, staring off into nothing as he processed all the memories being shoved into his brain.

"Artie!" Alfred suddenly yelled out and Arthur was pulled into a hug that lifted his feet off the ground. Arthur couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"I rather missed that," Arthur smiled as he was placed down. Without wasting any time, Alfred pulled him into a kiss that Arthur happily returned. The two busied themselves running their hands through each other's hair before they had to pull back for air.

"I-I don't know what to say," Alfred smiled.

"How about you explain what just happened?" Matthew asked.

"I understand that he is rather cute, despite those eyebrows," Francis sighed, "but kissing on the first date?"

"Still the same frog," Arthur sighed, shaking his head. He pulled back from Alfred, albeit begrudgingly, and stood in front of Matthew and Francis. He quickly pressed his pointer finger against their foreheads, making their memories return, and stood back.

"Arthur?" Matthew blinked.

"Ah! Mon ami!" Francis quickly pulled him into a hug and Arthur simply laughed.

"So, you're the Wizard now?" Alfred asked and Arthur finally shoved Francis away. The group was easily ignoring the confused nurses and doctors surrounding them.

"It would seem that way, now wouldn't it?" Arthur nodded.

"You're so cute!" Alfred pulled him into another hug. "This is what you get after hundreds of years of me not being able to do this!"

"Not my bloody fault," Arthur sighed, but allowed himself to be hugged nevertheless.

"How do you smell so good after being asleep for so long?" Alfred asked.

"Magic," Arthur smiled.

"So, Ivan was never evil like we thought," Matthew muttered. "I almost feel bad now."

"That Peter said that he would give him a burial," Francis stated.

"He's among the others that we left behind," Arthur sighed. He still wasn't sure about how he felt about leaving those five behind. Despite only knowing each other for a few days, they were friends.

"I wasn't left behind," Peter's voice laughed behind them and Arthur swiftly turned towards the doorway, where Peter stood, looking like he hadn't changed a bit, leaning against the doorframe.

"Peter?" Arthur asked. Did this mean the others were still around?

"Before you ask, I'm the only one that lived another life," Peter smiled slightly, walking up to them. "I have no idea why. I was as confused as you are."

A sudden realization hit Arthur. The only two people that should be able to use magic should be the Wizard and his apprentice, yet Peter could. Arthur had been around for long enough, maybe his own apprentice came along before he was even ready to have one…

"Peter," Arthur smiled and knelt down to pat him on the head. "I think I have an idea why you're still here."

"Wait, do you mean…?" Peter's eyes widened.

"I think so," Arthur nodded.

"Um, what are you two talking about?" Alfred asked behind him.

"The hero's back to normal!" Peter hugged Alfred's leg.

"Uh, yeah," Alfred smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Hero does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Who was the one that gave you your heart back?" Arthur scoffed.

"Who was the one that kissed you awake?" Alfred smirked.

"Excuse me," the doctor regained Arthur's attention, making him stand up to look at him. "If you wouldn't mind, we should do some tests to make sure you really are fine."

"I can assure you I am perfectly fine," Arthur stated. "I understand the Kirkland family has been donating to this hospital?"

"Not since 20 years ago," the doctor shook his head.

"I guess I'll have to talk to those gits now," Arthur sighed.

"Oh, yeah, they're probably in New Britain now," Alfred muttered.

"You are going to have to tell me about what has happened to the world," Arthur nodded to him.

"Right after we ride off into the sunset like we're supposed to," Alfred smiled. "This is a fairytale after all!"

"You kissed awake someone who's been asleep for a hundred years," Arthur stated bluntly. "That's not fairytale enough for you?"

"Nope," Alfred shook his head.

"Don't make me miss the heartless you," Arthur sighed. "I can still take out your heart if I want to."

"Aw, you wouldn't be able to do that," Alfred said with a wave of his hand.

"The Wizard's awake! The Wizard's awake!" Arthur could hear some sort of cheering coming from the hallway and soon, shoving through all the nurses, came at least a dozen people. Some had things obviously wrong with them, like half of their body made of metal or there was a fairy yanking on their hair.

"I think you'll have to wait quite a while before that happy ending, love," Arthur couldn't help but smile.

"You're the Wizard, right?" a woman came up to Arthur with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Yes," Arthur nodded.

"Would someone tell me what is going on?" the doctor groaned and Arthur couldn't help but smile at him.

"Please, my son's turned into a puppet," the woman stated. "Every time he lies, his nose grows."

"I see," Arthur nodded. "I will help him as soon as I can."

"What about me?!"

"I can't feel my legs!"

"My mum's turned into a bear!"

"My sister just turned into a mermaid!"

"Calm down!" Arthur shouted, gathering all of their attentions. "I will get to each one of you. I've been gone for a hundred years, after all. I have to make it up to all of you."

"Will this always happen?" Francis asked.

"I would assume so," Arthur chuckled and turned to Peter. "Take notes, lad."

"Yes sir!" Peter nodded happily.

Just like that, the world continued to move. The Wizard returned, stronger than before, and there was no telling how long this one lasted before the next one continued his work. The fairytale had finally stopped, but Arthur was not allowed to rest until his duties as the wizard were done. As such, no one else in the fairytale was either.

It was the first time the Wizard had companions, and though they were only slightly helpful, they helped Arthur. Ivan was alone, with only the "thank you"s as company over his long life. Now that Arthur knew his tragic story, he did finally go to the grave Peter had been up keeping for the past 100 years and said his own "thank you."

* * *

It wasn't exactly the happily ever after they were looking for, but eventually it happened. They were old, both living over 400 years. Nevertheless, Arthur and Alfred went to a sunset in the meadow. Arthur had given his title to Peter, knowing full well that the lad would be a great man.

Then the two kissed.

The end.

**A fairytale will continue until it's had its happily ever after**. Once it's done, the story doesn't continue. The four in the story had lived long enough and they were finally allowed to rest. The world may not have known their names, but they knew The Wizard, The Companions, The Sleeping Man, The Dragon Slayers, The Wolf Tamers, The Travelers, The Kirklands.

That is the mark they left while they were forced to live their lives. What will you leave?

* * *

**Cheesy ending is cheesy. But it's finally done and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. This is pretty much one of the best stories I've written on here and it's all thanks to you people who read through it and helped me out!**

**I forgot to mention it last chapter, but the person who guessed completely what Ivan was up to first was Dark Fenrir. I will keep up my promise and give them the one-shot they've asked for. Hopefully that will be up soon, depending on how quickly I can get to it. **

**Thanks all! I love you!**

**I don't own Hetalia!**


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